How is your vision?
Shortly after I turned 40, I was having a problem with my home computer, so I called tech support. They asked me to read the serial number on the back of the computer tower, and I could not make out the numbers. No matter how close or far I was, I could not see the numbers. That was the beginning of many trips to the optometrist and many changes to my glasses. As I write this, I’m having vision issues due to a cataract in one of my eyes. To keep my vision clear, it will take more than glasses. It will likely take surgery. However, I do want clear vision, so an appointment with my doctor is in the near future.
When it comes to a New Year, or life itself, we all need vision to help us negotiate the challenges and situations we face.
The Bible tells us that where there is no vision, the people perish. Vision is more than eyesight, it is the ability to see things as they are, or as they need to be. I remember reading about two of the great Italian Renaissance painters, Michelangelo and Raphael. Michelangelo was about eight years older than Raphael, and one day he came into Raphael’s studio and examined one of his early drawings. Picking up a piece of chalk, Michelangelo scrawled across the painting the Latin word “Amplius” which means “greater” or “larger.” To the older master’s trained eye, Raphael’s drawing demonstrated too little vision. Michelangelo insisted Raphael think bigger and paint better.
When it comes to life, to our plans, and our efforts, especially as it relates to serving God and others, would God write upon us Amplius? Would He describe our lives as having too little vision? We can’t find special glasses for improving this kind of vision, but we can allow the Lord to do spiritual surgery on us—that is, to enlarge our ability see clearly, and understand more fully through the improvement of our faith. Again, the Bible affirms, “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” In 2025, as we face new opportunities and challenges, may we do so with greater and larger vision than ever before. May we go to the Great Physician who gives sight to the blind, and vision to both young and old.
