How Is Your Spiritual?
A Serious Limitation But as powerful as your eyeballs are, they have one significant limitation. Every single eye in this room has a fatal flaw. Your eyes can only see physical reality. Every eye in this room is limited to seeing physical things: cars, people, buildings, planes, dogs, grass, pollution, microbes, trees, books, computers. These things are all physical, and they are the only part of reality accessible to our eyes. Our eyeballs are completely useless when it comes to perceiving spiritual reality. The spiritual side of life is just as real as the physical side; we just can’t see it. Oh, don’t make the mistake of thinking that the spiritual is less real than the physical. It is not. It is just as real, only we can’t see it. But it’s there and as real as eyeballs in your head.
Purpose I want to try to persuade you that as valuable as your physical eyesight is, you have a set of spiritual eyes that are even more valuable. Not only do you have spiritual eyes, but you must use them if you want to live a life that finds its satisfaction in God.
Every human being has spiritual eyes. God gave them to us so that we could apprehend the spiritual realities of life. Sadly, those who have not trusted Christ are completely blind spiritually. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4: But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing, among whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of those who do not believe so they would not see the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:3-4, emphasis mine).
They cannot see unless the Holy Spirit gives them sight. Tragically, the eyes of many Christians don’t see very well either. Often our spiritual vision is blinded by the glare of what our physical eyes see. I want to convince you that it is more important to make sure your spiritual eyes can see clearly than almost anything else you do.
Psalm 73 is what students of the Bible call an individual song of thanksgiving or a wisdom Psalm. In this Psalm, a single author stands before a congregation of gathered worshipers and gives praise to God for delivering him from some difficult circumstance. The testimony time has multiple purposes. First, the psalmist wants to thank God for deliverance; second, he wants to provide a warning to others about what almost happened to him; third, he wants to encourage his listeners to greater faith in God.
But as for me, my feet almost slipped; my feet almost slid out from under me For I envied those who are proud, as I observed the prosperity of the wicked (Psalm 73:2-3).
A Disturbing Conclusion I say this is a cry of protest, and not a shrug of resignation because the psalmist knows in his heart that something is not right. He recognizes what his eyes are showing him, but he is in conflict because he understands that this is not the way the world should be. His sense of justice, and faith in God, tell him that the wicked should get what they deserve: damnation! He looks out at the wicked trampling the righteous in the dust, and he wants to blow his whistle and yell, “MORAL FOUL, UNNECESSARY WICKEDNESS, ETERNITY IN THE PENALTY BOX!” Instead, he sees them winning the game of life! Now listen, if you don’t think this is serious, keep reading. What the psalmist saw was powerful enough to cause a crisis of faith!
A Man on the Edge He continues, I concluded, “Surely in vain I have kept my motives pure and maintained a pure lifestyle. I suffer all day long, and am punished every morning” (Psalm 73:13-14).
A Bright Shining Truth Then, as if he can find no other relief, he runs to the temple and the rest of reality explodes into view. Like someone stumbling about in a dark room and then finding the light switch, the psalmist “sees” what he has been missing all along! Then I entered the precincts of God’s temple, and understood the destiny of the wicked (Psalm 73:17).
o Exhortation So, how do we, like the psalmist, keep our spiritual senses in good working order? How do we go into the sanctuary and, by faith, catch a glimpse of the One who puts all things into perspective, GOD? Yes, in the sanctuary I have seen you, and witnessed your power and splendor (Psalm 63:2).
