On July 11, 1993 U.S. President Bill Clinton was given a pair of binoculars at Camp Casey from the Quellette guard post in the Demilitarized zone, the boarder between the two Koreas. As he looked through the lenses at North Korea with a Presidential smile and the pride of a nation behind him he forgot just one small detail; to take the caps off of the lenses of the binoculars.
This recap is not a dig on former President Bill Clinton as other dignitaries have been caught on film doing just this very thing but rather an example that many listeners could relate to themselves. We as Christians do the same thing when we come to church dressed in our very best nodding our head in agreement with our Pastors yet have failed to remove or move the black covers of our bibles.
We may claim “we see” but like Billy here with a London fog jacket and Presidential smile and head nodded we have no idea what he’s talking about. This is because it is God’s Word that brings light into a situation. Jesus is the light of the world but it is the entrance of his Word that brings light. Apart from it we walk in darkness.
It is his Word that helps us know both where we come from but just as important what is ahead. We can see ourselves in a whole new light as well as others and most importantly the God we serve. We can know him intimately. As we take God’s Word into our hearts it is than the Holy Spirt who fine tunes the adjustments to help us see things clearly. We no longer walk in darkness but walk in the light of life which is Jesus Christ.
It is also the Holy Spirit whom the scriptures state in the Gospel of John who will show us things to come. What an amazing concept as well as promise to believers. But this amazing promise and many others only applies if you take the covers off the Bible. I like to think of Jesus tomb as like a pair of binoculars or nodular (single) with the lenses cover of a stone over it. When he rose from the dead the lenses cover was taken off not only for himself but for us as well. We died with Jesus and when he rose from the dead we rose as well with him; lense covers off. I see this while looking through God’s Word.
That black book collecting dust really is a pair of binoculars that allows us to see things up close and personal. It’s lenses are powerful enough as well for you to see heavenly things as well and your place in them. All you and I have to do is start looking. The scriptures encourages us to do this very thing in Colossians 3:2-4. “Set your mind on things above, not things of earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. See yourself from a different perspective, God’s perspective. We are hidden him and no longer demilitarized zone of sin under the dictatorship of Satan. We are now like Bill looking back at our old life with lense covers off but more importantly looking ahead at what God has for us. The view of life is much better on this side with the covers off and our bibles opened seeing ourselves and life from God’s perspective.