The first 28 years of my life I had perfect vision. Like so many things, I took it for granted. Then one night at a high school basketball game I noticed that I couldn’t see the scoreboard as clearly as it used to be. All of a sudden the road signs were not as crisp and distinct as they had always been, especially at night. So, reluctantly, I started wearing glasses. I remember reading the description of Moses and being envious:

Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak… (Deuteronomy 34:7).

My prescription changed little over the next twenty years. Then, around the time I turned 50, I noticed that I was having trouble reading while wearing my glasses. It didn’t bother me too much, because when I am at my desk I don’t wear my glasses. I can read and work at my computer better without them. But that didn’t help when I was leading worship. In order to see the people in the pews clearly, I needed my glasses. To read the lessons or the liturgy, I had to take them off. You know where this is heading – bifocals! I was even more reluctant to take that step, but I did, and the adjustment did not go well. I tried contact lenses and several different pairs of glasses and tweaking the magnification power. I finally had a pair that I could live with.

About ten years later there was another development. I had a torn retina in one eye and a detached retina in the other. Immediate surgery on both eyes. The torn retina was fixed easily with laser surgery, basically “welding” it back in place. The right eye was another story. Seven surgeries over the next year. While I did not lose my sight in that eye, I don’t see well enough to read with that eye. There are several “dead spots” in that eye and corrective lenses do not help. And it will not get any better. It is better than no vision, but if my vision in both eyes was like that one, I would not be able to drive safely. I am extremely grateful to our gracious God that my left eye has taken over and allows me to function almost as well as I did before this latest affliction.

It is amazing how much attention we give to our vision. Surgeries, implants and corrective lenses solve many problems, but not all. And there are more severe vision troubles than poor eyesight. Diseases and injuries leave people in a world of darkness where there is no vision at all. In my ministry I spoke to several people with eye diseases and they shared the terror they felt at the possibility of losing their sight. I now know how they felt.

There are multiple instances in the Gospels of Jesus healing the blind, restoring their physical sight. I cannot imagine the joy that would be experienced by one who could not see suddenly having sight. And yet even greater joy belongs to those who have been given spiritual sight.

Even if I lose my sight in one or both eyes, I will still see Jesus. By the grace of God, I have seen my Savior with the eyes of faith. His love is a reality in my life. I know that He lived, died and rose again for me. That gives me the assurance that I will one day enter His presence and see Him face to face and live with Him forever. With perfect vision.

We live by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7