Pastor Ben’s Ponderings

“Now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.”     (1 Corinthians 13:12)

A few years ago, I had surgery on each of my eyes to remove cataracts. Each eye was repaired separately, so after the first surgery, I covered the newly repaired eye with my hand to compare my vision with the eye that was still clouded. When I compared the clear vision of my good eye with the impaired eye, I suddenly realized that I had been looking through a yellowish-brown haze that darkened everything in my line of sight.

It was unbelievable and, to be honest, it was disturbing how dark and cloudy my vision had become without my realizing it. Day by day, over the course of probably more than 20 years, my vision slowly grew more and more impaired. Yet, because it happened so gradually, and because I couldn’t compare what I was seeing to what I should have been seeing, there was no way to really comprehend what I was missing until the fog was removed surgically.

This principle is not only a physical one but a spiritual truth as well. The world we know is but a vague silhouette of what eternity will hold for us. All we know now and have ever known is a dark, limited view with which we have nothing to compare. But one day, the blinders will be off and we will have clarity we never knew! All of our questions, doubts, and confusion will be abundantly clear.
But, until that day, we are engaged in a walk of faith in which we are dependent on the One whose vision is perfect and whose hand is ready to guide us through the dark.