I have worn corrective lenses since the first grade. Without glasses or contacts, I can’t see my hand in front of my face. My vision has gotten even more challenging due to the onset of cataracts and I may be facing potential surgery.
In preparation for this procedure, the doctor needs to measure my eyes. To get an accurate reading, I am not permitted to wear my contacts for two weeks. This has severely curtailed my activities as I cannot drive with my glasses.
I also can’t see that well with them as they were only ever meant to keep me from crashing into walls. I never had a reason to get the prescription updated and now, well, it’s sorta too late.
Even if I could see well with my glasses, given my severe nearsightedness and astigmatism, the lenses are thicker than peanut butter. Hence, why I will not go out in public. I know – “the vanity of it all!”
What would people think? Say? All week long, I’ve been thinking about the story of the woman at the well (John 4). If you are unfamiliar with it, let me quickly summarize.
A Samaritan woman was visiting a well to draw water in the middle of the afternoon. Jesus was there and asked her for a drink. This is significant because in that time, men did not speak to women directly and secondly, she was a Samaritan, a people who Jews did not associate.
The other important fact is that she was there in the afternoon. Normally water was drawn in the morning. Because of her lifestyle and her past, she was shunned by her community. So, to avoid the glares and stares and gossip, she chose to go at a time when no one would be there.
In the midst of the conversation, Jesus told her to bring her husband to the well. She informed Him that she didn’t have one, to which Jesus replied, “You’re right. You’ve had five husbands and the one you’re with now isn’t your husband either.”
Whoa! Can you imagine what she had to have been thinking? How could Jesus have known this? He had never met her. Someone was finally seeing her for who she really was AND accepting her in spite of her checkered past.
To be clear…Jesus loves and accepts you for who you are, but He loves you too much to let you stay that way.
It turns out that this woman who was shunned by her community, ashamed of herself, broken inside and out was the first person who Jesus revealed His true identity to. This hot mess of a person was the very first to learn that Jesus was the Messiah.
And what does she do with this revelation? She drops her buckets, runs back to the town square and like Paul Revere shouting “The British are coming! The British are coming,” she shouts: “I’ve met the Messiah! I’ve met the Messiah!”
Because of this, her entire town came to believe in Jesus. She finally met a Man who saw her for who she really was underneath the guilt, shame, and false identity. She came to the well one way, and left completely changed.
That’s what knowing Jesus does for each of us. There’s no way you can remain the same once you have had an encounter with Jesus.
We may not see ourselves or our circumstances clearly. Our vision may be clouded with the weight of past mistakes, physical impairments, or perhaps even the hurtful words and actions of other people.
Yet, our Father in heaven sees us as perfect because He looks at us through Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:18). Sure we have faults, we have all fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), but like the woman at the well, when we face our past, turn away from our sins, and receive the love of God, our lives are forever changed.
When you see yourself as God sees you, no corrective lenses (or eye surgery! are needed.
If you would like to know more about how to leave your past behind and embrace God’s vision for your life, then I invite you to watch or listen to the Elevate The Day Podcast, “What’s Your Vision?”