My perspective is in my control.
A lens is an optical device. We all use them, whether for cameras, telescopes, microscopes, or eyeglasses. You look through it. A lens doesn’t change the object you’re looking at—it doesn’t change WHAT IS. It only changes how YOU SEE it. Depending on the type of lens, it might make an object appear larger than it is or smaller, it might allow you to see it clearer or in a different light, or it may enhance details that are THERE, but that you cannot see with your God-given “naked” eye.
Let’s give this a spiritual application. We are each given the opportunity, by our own will, to seek to develop a relationship—a kinship—with our Creator God—one on One. It has been said that every human is created with a “God-shaped vacuum”—a hole in their soul that only a relationship with God can truly fill. In our heart of hearts, we long to SEE Him, to draw near to Him, to KNOW Him. God desires that relationship, too—but there’s something we must do FIRST.
In Hebrews, we learn what that something is. Chapter 11, verse 6 says that whoever seeks to approach God must FIRST “BELIEVE that HE IS.” But “believe that He IS” … WHAT? The statement seems to be incomplete, missing an object or definer. But it is NOT incomplete. This verse tells us that before coming to God, we must first be prepared with a mindset. A perspective. We must come prepared to BELIEVE that He IS Who He says He IS: the “I AM”—the ONE omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent GOD—and that Jesus is GOD in flesh. (Exodus 3:14, John 8:58)
This mindset is a way of SEEING. It is like a LENS that you see all things through—it is the LENS of FAITH. We will never perceive His Word, His Will, or His Ways correctly unless we willingly view Him through this steady LENS of absolute persuasion of WHO HE IS. Only by and through the lens of FAITH may we clearly and quickly see His Word as true, His Will as absolute, and His Ways as perfect. Always. No argument. No doubt. Submitting and committing our lives to Him—for a lifetime—becomes easier when we see and accept HIM as THE one and only ABSOLUTE. (John 14:6).
The lens of FAITH also corrects our vision that was once completely distorted by the world, our flesh, and the devil. The fact is, without that powerful lens of pure, unobstructed, absolute FAITH, it is impossible to please God, to receive His gift of salvation, or to KNOW Him.
FAITH is a noun, not a verb. Faith by itself (without action) is inanimate. Merely by saying you have faith does nothing for your spiritual vision, just as it takes more than merely holding a lens in your hand for it to correct your natural vision. You must USE it—LOOK through it. Seeing, THROUGH faith, is TRUST. It colors, corrects, focuses your eyesight so that whatever situation you see, you immediately TRUST God for because you’re seeing it through FAITH in Him. Your understanding is corrected, and your vision is clear because you KNOW that “He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments …” (Deuteronomy 7:9 KJV)
Dear Jesus, I ask that the eyes of my heart may be enlightened, so that I may know the fullness of faith and the hope of Your calling. (Ephesians 1:18)
