Seeing With Our Souls

It appears the activities of Spring are in motion and it won’t be long before the roadside fields will be filled with wildflower eye-candy marking the end of winter in South Texas. I’ve already had to take a back-seat to the neighborhood squirrels as my little Bella has stepped up the patrol of her fenced-in domain. She lies in wait to give chase to any tree-rat that dares to invade her yard. Then the race is on to the safety of the fence – don’t know what will happen if she ever catches one. She sure gets tired - and naps more often.

In days gone by, there was a certain recluse who lived deep in the mountains of Colorado. When he died, distant relatives came from the big city to collect his valuables. Upon arriving, all they saw was a plain shack of a house with a dilapidated outhouse beside it. Inside the shack, beside the rock fireplace was a blackened cook pot and the old miner’s equipment. A cracked table with a three-legged chair stood guard by a tiny window, and a kerosene lamp served as a center-piece for the table. In a dark corner of the little room was a well-worn cot with a threadbare bed-roll on it. The relatives picked up a few of the old relics and started to leave. They were met outside the shack by an old friend of the recluse, on his mule, who asked, “Do you mind if I help myself to what’s left in my friend’s cabin?” They told him, “Go right ahead.” After all, they thought, what could possibly be inside that shack that was worth anything? They headed for their vehicle; the old friend got off his mule and entered the shack. Once inside he strode directly over to the table, reached under it, and lifted one of the floorboards. He then proceeded to remove a pile of bags containing all the gold his friend had collected in the past 53 years – enough to have built a palace. The old recluse died with only his friend knowing his true worth and wealth. As the friend looked out of the shack’s one little window, he saw the cloud of dust being raised by the vehicle as the relatives drove away. With a slight smile on his face he said out loud to himself, “They should have gotten to know him better.” I think he caught those city-slickers napping, don’t you?

[Ephesians 1:15-20] The apostle Paul prays a prayer that reminds us that God is rich, and that Christians can be rich too, if they are careful to know God. “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the gracious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart  may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms...” It’s good to pray that the sick will get well, that the bereaved will be comforted, that the wars in the world will soon end, that the economy will improve, that preachers of the Gospel will live and be useful to God for a long time, and that the elders will make wise decisions. But Paul’s prayer expresses concerns that reach way beyond the physical things that are the focus of many prayers heard in the modern church. His prayer is that Christians might know God better in order to understand more fully just how fabulous our spiritual riches in Jesus Christ really are. In effect, he prays that we might come to see with the eyes of the soul. Then, and only then, will we realize how immeasurable is our wealth and worth in Christ. Think on these things (Philippians 4:4-9)