Cataracts are a common eye condition. The natural lens of
the eye becomes cloudy, affecting vision. Cataracts are caused by age and various
health factors.
We can also develop spiritual cataracts. Perhaps that’s what happened to the two on the road to Emmaus mentioned in Luke 24. Their minds were focused on the loss of Jesus. They hadn’t yet heard that He had risen from the dead. Even when He walked right up to them, these two followers of His were blinded by their pain and fear and didn’t recognize Him.
That happens to us, too. Although we have believed in and followed Jesus for years, we can fail to recognize Him. It can happen gradually. We can’t see Him working and get discouraged, wondering how we will cope. An old Mickey and Becky song said, “Satan’s lies can cloud the eyes till we see only rain.”
Sometimes sin creates a haze so dense we have trouble following Jesus. Bit by bit, we get mired in bad behaviors and destructive thought patterns and can’t see the way out. We close our eyes to His presence and stop looking for His direction.
Yet, Jesus isn’t hiding from us. He loves us so much that He uses every means possible to get our attention—just like He did for those two travelers to Emmaus. Jesus walked with them, listened to them, talked with them. He taught them, ate with them, and didn’t chide them when they finally “saw” Him for who He was.
Jesus does the same for us. He never abandons us. He continues to work in our lives even when we are blind to His efforts. We may try to shroud our wrongdoing from Him and others, but He sees us as we are—and loves us despite our efforts to muddy the waters between us.
We can remove the blinders from our spiritual eyes by being intentional about focusing on Jesus through prayer, scripture reading, and spending time with other believers, sharing our struggles and requesting prayer. We can defrost and defog our vision of Jesus by confessing our sins to Him, by being honest with others about our weaknesses and asking them to hold us accountable. We don’t have to put up with spiritual cataracts.
Be encouraged!
