“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened.” Ephesians 1:18 NIV
“Love cares enough to look for what others just don’t bother to see.”
My thoughts today are about “seeing what’s real.”
When I first read today’s verse I thought “the eyes of your heart,” seemed a strange phrase. The more that I thought about those words, the more true I realized them to be. I believe that you have not truly seen what is most real until your understanding comes from your heart.
That’s what happened when you first knew you were with someone you would love for the rest of your life. Your relationship and subsequent commitment to them had moved from physical attraction, what you had seen with your eyes – to love and admiration, things that only come from your heart. However much others saw, no one could see them exactly as you do. Your heart saw so many good things about their heart, as they did about yours. That’s love that can last a lifetime. I don’t think it’s true that “love is blind;” I think love cares enough to look for what others just don’t bother to see.
That same thing happens in a mother when her baby is born. She doesn’t see her baby wrinkly or slightly misshapen from the difficult birthing process, as others might. She sees from the eyes of her heart, and that baby is her joy and delight. The eyes of her heart are on the future, things as they could be, not things as they are.
What if you and I lived that way, looking at life through the eyes of the heart – seeing what’s real, what’s possible in God? Would your friendships be deeper, more enduring – your relationships more valued – your love more loyal – your family more treasured – your heart more tranquil – your faith more vibrant? I think all that would be more true. God meant for you to live that way; maybe that’s why He gave you this capacity.
You see, your heart is God’s sanctuary and workshop. “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 NKJV. The Spirit of God places truth and anticipation into your heart where you can more clearly see what’s real without all the distractions of apparent contradictions. Anyone can see the obvious; you need to see what’s possible. Is that what you need in your situation right now?
Two discouraged disciples were walking back home to Emmaus, when the resurrected Jesus joined them. Easter had happened but they didn’t know it. Read Luke 24:13-36 NIV. “They saw Him but did not recognize Him.” vs. 15-16 TEV. In a crisis, it is easy to place your focus on the wrong things, and that’s all you really see – the wrong things. Later, “their eyes were opened and they recognized Him . . didn’t our hearts feel strangely warm as He talked with us along the way?” vs. 29-33.
They discovered what they overlooked: the clear connection between their heart and their eyes. Their physical eyes were blind to Jesus’ presence because they had not been looking through the “eyes of their heart.” That’s what Easter is about – opening the eyes of your heart to see that Jesus is alive within you, always powerfully alongside you, and therefore nothing is ever again unlikely. Easter reveals a greater reality for your life, only if your heart will see and believe it!
My prayer for you today is to always see life and others through the eyes of your heart.