I love my eyes, not because of the shape or the color or that I have 20/20 vision (which I don’t unless I wear glasses). I love my eyes not because they are so spectacular or different than anyone else’s.

I love my eyes because I can see. I can see color and texture. I can be overwhelmed at a sunset or a rainbow or the first snow sparkling against the sunshine on a pine bough.

I can read. I can read whatever I want to put in front of my eyes, as long as it is in English that is.

I can see friends and their smiles or sorrows. I can see. My eyes give me the ability to move around freely without fear of falling or hurting myself. Seeing is a good thing. I love my eyes.

Again this year we are reading through the Bible and as I, with my eyes, read through Genesis, I saw a few things. God created. He spoke things into existence. He saw that the light was good, and He saw that the waters and the dry earth were good. God saw that the fruit trees and other vegetation were good, and He saw that the sun was good for the day and the moon was good for the night. And God saw the sea creatures and birds after he created them and they were good too. Then it was the animals, and he saw that they were good. Then, God created man. And He looked around at all he created and saw that it was all good (Genesis 1).

Seeing is part of who God is. He sees everything. He misses nothing that happens to us or anyone else. He sees it all.

Jesus saw the woman at Nain (Luke 7) on her way to bury her son. Jesus saw the suffering of people (Matt. 5); He saw the Samaritan woman (John 4). In Gethsemane he saw how sleepy his disciples were (Mark 14), and He saw Peter when he denied Him (Luke 22:61). Jesus saw. He saw how upset his mother was when he was on the cross and made provision for her (John 19:26-27).

Seeing is part of our human experience. God made us that way. We are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). But it’s not just about seeing. In each instance, our seeing brings a heart response. Go back through each thing listed and you will see there was a response to the seeing.

Seeing can also get us into a nest of trouble. It certainly did that for Eve. Just prior to Genesis 3, Adam and Eve delighted in working and tending to life in the Garden. They enjoyed perfect unbroken fellowship with God as well as with each other, but then something horrid happened in Genesis 3. Eve looked at something she should not have looked at. She saw that the fruit which they were to avoid looked really appealing to her and so the stage was set for Satan to finish what he had begun. He placed doubt in her mind and heart about the goodness of God. The ESV says the fruit was a delight to her eyes. Not a good thing. Her seeing led to an action.

Had she never really looked at this tree before? Maybe, but it didn’t grab her attention like it did this one particular fateful day. Satan helped her to see it differently than she had before.

What are you looking at? I see and I want!

Ladies, I don’t know about you but when something is a delight to my eyes, I am pretty sure I have to have it.

You know how it goes: You go wandering through the mall and your eye sees many things but then it happens. Your eye spots something and catches your attention and then it becomes a delight and a purchase is made.

Our eyes are meant to see things that are beautiful and pleasant to look at, and God created our hearts to desire and enjoy beauty. We are meant to love looking at newborn babies, and sunsets and a finished project, but so often our eyes get us into the same trouble they got Eve into.

Our eyes need to be guarded. A horse has blinders put on it so that it isn’t easily distracted, and as believers we are also called to have blinders put on our eyes because we are easily distracted.

We can be distracted with social media and forget about real relationships and become convinced that we need the “media” world to affirm us or help us get through the day. We can be distracted with the games it provides and we see nothing more than jelly moving around on a screen.

We can get distracted with food because it can be a delight to the eyes, and we have to eat whatever it is we have set our eyes on. We can be distracted with the human body, whether it be ours or that of another.

What are you looking at? What do you want?

Our eyes are given to us to be used for the glory of God and nothing else.

• So the challenge for us is, what are we looking at?
• What is a delight to your eyes?
• What distracts you from seeing clearly?
• What gets in the way of using your eyes for God’s glory?
• What will you do to stay away from the places that cause your eyes to see what you know you should not have?
• Will you turn off that device and instead look into the heart of God as you read His word?
• Will you put the blinders on when it comes to what you allow yourself to be entertained by?
• Will you use your eyes to see the hurting and the lost?
• Will you use your eyes to see the beauty that God has put all around you?
• Will it all cause you to pour out praise and thanksgiving for the wonderful gift of your eyes?