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Since ditching my frames for contacts
two years ago, I have adjusted well to monovision. I promised myself never to go back to
frames as long as my astigmatism no longer made wearing contacts a viable option. During a recent eye exam, my new
optometrist told me that the power I needed in my right eye for reading was not available
in the brand of contacts that I was wearing, and this was concerning to me.
Then she asked me a question out of
the clear blue, “Do you shoot a rifle with your left or right eye? I responded,
“With my left.” She informed me that my
left eye is my dominant eye. In order for me to keep wearing the brand of
contacts suited for me, she suggested reversing the functions of my contacts by using my
dominant left eye for reading and my weaker right eye for distance. This would give
me the flexibility of any power adjustments in the future and keep me in contacts longer. The key
to making this happen would be based upon me successfully “tricking” my brain
to embrace the switch.
She cautioned me that not everyone is able to
do this. Since I am still in my two week trial period, there has been some
“competition” between the eyes, but I am still determined to make this work.
Switching vision functions in the physical world is one thing, but when we as
believers begin switching in and out of a worldview on a spiritual level it
seriously impairs our vision as believers to see the world in Divine reality, in other
words, as God sees it. What once were clear lines of demarcation between right and wrong are now
blurred when the biblical worldview is replaced by a carnal one. There is no
trial period, only trials and troubles whenever we shift from a biblical
worldview point to a non-biblical one; and the vision only gets worst over time.
A world view is basically how we view
reality and make sense of everything around us. It is more than simply an
abstract idea but a framework and driving force by which we interpret reality
and live out our life accordingly. Now there’s the rub, living out our beliefs! Our worldview colors our thoughts, emotions, and actions in every fabric of life. Let me give a couple of examples of
worldviews: for many the self is the center of the Universe
(egocentricism); for a secular humanist secularism and materialism are all that
matter; for an evolutionist there is no God, and for a devout evangelical the
Scriptures are the absolute authority in all matters of faith and practice.
Actually, we could really reduce all
worldviews to only two: secular (physical, non biblical view) and sacred
(spiritual, biblical view). The former is focused on the physicality of this
life (cf. 1 Jn 2:16); anything “spiritual” is subservient to the physical. We
can refer to this as the vision of the flesh (or the sin nature). The latter is
directed toward the spirituality of this life in accordance with Divine inscripturated
(written down) revelation (the Bible). The physical things are only supportive
and subordinate elements to the main spiritual objective – the will of God
which is always in agreement with the principles of Scripture. We can call this the vision of faith (of the
new man or new nature). The vision of faith is seeing the world around us as
God sees it and acting upon it according to His will.
This idea of going back and forth
between worldviews by believers (flesh to faith, faith to flesh, flesh to
faith, faith to flesh and so on) can be illustrated on a national scale during
an unstable period of the Judges in Israel, which most evangelical scholars
agree spanned between the death of Joshua and the coronation of Israel’s first
king, Saul – “In those days there was no king in Israel.” The actual number of
years that made up this dark history of apostasy and anarchy in Israel is
contested between Bible scholars. Be that as it may, the phrase “every man did
that which is right in his own eyes” occurs twice in the book of Judges (other, Jdg 17:6) and characterizes this period of Israeli history and
reveals the root cause of so much heartache and misery during this turbulent
time of spiritual arrested development.
The fact that there was “no king in
Israel” was no justification for the spiritual decline and moral decadency in
Israel during this bleak period. Just because they didn’t have a king that they
could “see and touch,” didn’t negate God’s existence, and they still had the
Law of Moses for their standard of holy living. It was nothing short of
outright rejection of God ruling over them (1 Sam 8:7, the people eventually
wanted a monarchy, a man-king, over a theocracy, the God-King, cf. Jn 19:15) by the
time of the last judge in Israel who went by the name of Samuel, Hannah’s boy.
With a “God is not on the throne”
mentality, the rejection of God ruling over their lives or turning away from
the right way of living as prescribed by the Law of Moses paved the way for every man in becoming
his own standard of what is right and wrong - “in his own eyes.” This became as natural as
cheese molding. With the death of Joshua and the generation who knew him, the
rejection of God rapidly declined with the generation who did not know God or
the work He had done for Israel (Jdg 2:8-10). Things went south rather quickly
(Jdg 2:11-12).
What followed over the next three to
four centuries were seven cycles of apostasy that followed this pattern:
1. Sinned, particularly idol worship and its attendant vices (Jdg 2:13).
2. Oppressed by their enemies and chastened (Jdg 2:14-15).
3. Israel repented (Jdg 2:18b).
4. Delivered by judges (local deliverers, Jdg 2:16, 18a).
5. Back to number one, Jdg 2:17, 19).
Doesn’t this sound terribly similar with our daily “living for the Lord” today: rebellion, retribution (chastening), repentance, restoration, and repeat! We are in and out of the will of God in so many different lengths of time. We are consistently inconsistent with our faithfulness! Albert Einstein is often quoted as saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. This spiritual insanity reveals to us the impending danger of embracing a humanistic world viewpoint that is centered around “self” rather than its opposite of God reigning on the throne of the heart, a life governed by the Scriptures rather than self-right (meism vs Deism). Billy Graham once made the comment that ninety-five percent of the difficulties you and I will experience as a Christian can be traced to a lack of Bible study and reading. Knowing of Billy’s theology, I understand that to mean the lack of application of truth learned.
What fueled this cyclical behavior during the time of the Judges? What causes us to go in and out of God’s will countless times? Well, it’s not rocket science; it was just plain old rebellion – “I don’t want God telling me what to do.” What else would you call it? But sin. We simply aren’t in agreement with God about something or someone! The spiritual and moral decline in Israel during this time was simply the rejection of the objective standard of God’s Word (Jdg 2:1-3) and opting for a subjective source – the sin nature (self); a definite vision changer!
In the second chapter of Judges we learn that “the people served the LORD all the days of
Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua “who
had seen all the great works of the LORD which He had done for Israel” (2:7).
After the elders were buried, “another
generation arose after them who did not know [emphasis mine] the LORD nor the work which He had
done for Israel” (Jdg 2:10). “Know” (Heb, yada) means to know relationally or
experientially. Before we go pointing the finger at these miscreants, unlike them we have the complete
revelation of God for godly living to instruct us and remind us of the goodness and
greatness of God and the danger of turning away (cf. Rom 15:4), and we still
forget…. or choose to ignore it…. Faith, flesh, faith, flesh, faith, flesh, and on and on we go in our Christian life. Yeah, there's a similar pattern of disobedience going on today in our lives.
The majority of the Israelites back then made an
unwise choice to turn their backs on the LORD by ignoring the Law of Moses and
the heritage of deliverance out of Egypt and His goodness to them by giving
them a land inheritance to enjoy. In their gratitude they decided to do their
own thing which invariably resulted in destruction, misery, suffering, and
ultimately death (Jdg 2:11-15).
According to Prov 14:12, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” The eye of the flesh is big on following its own instincts and inclinations in opposition to the teaching of Scripture. The results are always the same, the absence of blessing and eventual ruin.
Are we switching worldviews, dancing
between the two, one foot in church and the other in the world? Back and forth,
back and forth we go; where it leads nobody knows. God knows, and we do, too, if we take the biblical account of the Judges seriously. The reality is that we absolutely cannot have it both ways! Every time we embrace a non-biblical
worldview, we go chasing after some stupid idol which is one way of letting us know
that we have switched visions for a spell. I know we don’t physically fall down
and worship some deaf, dumb, and dead idol in our Western culture, but what if
an idol was more than a piece of wood, rock, or metal? What if its meaning
embraces more than a “god” made with hands but also includes anything that
competes for the will of God for our lives? What is it that is keeping us out
of a biblical perspective? In such a case we could have multiple idols of our
own making that prevent us from being obedient to the will of God! Lord, have mercy on
us!
God is not reigning on the throne of
our heart when we are looking down the barrel of another worldview other than
the Scripture as the absolute authority in all matters of faith and practice. Our love for God is measured
by our love for His Word in reading, studying, and applying its principles in
our everyday life. God’s Word is the only tracks His will runs up and down
upon. The only litmus test of our love for God is our obedience to His Word (Jn 14:15),
staying and living in the proper worldview. The only thing we trick is
ourselves when we are disobedient.
Wouldn’t it be better for us to be
blinded by faith than doing that which is right in our own eyes for it is simply not
in our power to direct our own steps due to our sin nature (Psa 37:23; 119:33). It takes submission to the Holy Spirit to do God's will. When
Christ is not on the throne of our hearts we will without a doubt pursue what is right in our
own eyes and not according to the Word of God. Mark it down; it begins with the slippery slope of compromise and rationalization, and then we're off to the races!
Wouldn’t it be great if every born again believer in Christendom walked in the Spirit! Wouldn’t that be a sight for sore eyes! How’s your vision? The only worldview that is beneficial for mankind is the lens of Scripture for both reading, distance, and blessing; anything else is a blur and a burden. Our worldview will determine our path, and our eyes will reveal our footprints, and the path we trod. What footprints is our vision leaving – doing what is right in our own eyes or what is right in God’s eyes? Let’s quit switching, making two sets of trails, and determine within our heart to stay on the “straight and narrow.” Our eyes really do leave footprints! <><
Wouldn’t it be great if every born again believer in Christendom walked in the Spirit! Wouldn’t that be a sight for sore eyes! How’s your vision? The only worldview that is beneficial for mankind is the lens of Scripture for both reading, distance, and blessing; anything else is a blur and a burden. Our worldview will determine our path, and our eyes will reveal our footprints, and the path we trod. What footprints is our vision leaving – doing what is right in our own eyes or what is right in God’s eyes? Let’s quit switching, making two sets of trails, and determine within our heart to stay on the “straight and narrow.” Our eyes really do leave footprints! <><
