I remember the day it happened as clearly as if it was yesterday. I tried to look up a telephone number in the local phone book (we did once have books of phone numbers), and I could not read the number. The numbers were blurry. I still remember the feeling I had, having to admit that I needed glasses.

Blurry vision is not a good thing. It can distort numbers, objects, and just about anything you are trying to see. I couldn’t work with this distorted view of things, so I made an appointment to have my eyes checked. What a blessing those reading glasses were.

Blurry vision doesn’t mean you can’t see anything; it is the inability to perceive things clearly.  Depending on how bad your vision is, the blurry vision may occur only when you are trying to read numbers. Sometimes it affects everything you are trying to see.

Spiritual blurry vision is like physical blurry vision. Some things may be very clear to you, but others may not be clear. They just may not make sense. For those who won’t accept God’s Word as authority, everything is blurry. Whether or not something is clear or blurry may depend on what you “want” to see. Do you want to see what the Bible says, or do you want to ignore it?

One of the most obvious cases of spiritual blurry vision is Peter. We see this over and over again during the three years he spent with Jesus. His problem was often not wanting to accept what was right in front of him.

Remember when Peter wanted to walk on the water. There he was with the disciples traveling across the Sea of Galilee, and he saw a figure walking on the water. The disciples were afraid because they thought it was a spirit. Jesus called to them and told them it was He, but Peter had blurry vision. He said, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” Jesus told him to come, and Peter got out of the boat and started toward Jesus. The wind was blowing, and Peter became afraid. In this case, blurry vision took the form of doubt.

In John 13, we read about Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. When He started to wash Peter’s feet, Peter questioned the Lord. Then he very bluntly told Jesus that he would never let Him wash his feet. Jesus had to make it clear that if He didn’t wash Peter’s feet, Peter would have no part with the Lord. Peter once again had blurry vision. He couldn’t see the lesson Jesus was trying to teach him and the other disciples. Jesus had to explain to them, and they still did not completely understand.

Peter was not the only one with blurry vision. When Jesus told the disciples that one of them would betray Him and described how they would know who it would be, John asked who it was to be. Jesus had said that the disciple that dipped in the dish with Him was the one.

Though Jesus told the disciples over and over again that He would be taken from them, they just didn’t understand. They had blurry vision.

We are much like that ourselves. We have specific commands in the New Testament, but we tread on the line between right and wrong to justify our behavior. We do this with our dress, what is acceptable in worship, drinking alcohol, using euphemisms, missing church services, etc. The list goes on and on. We have a bad case of blurry vision. We see clearly what we want to obey, and we can’t see clearly what the Bible tells us about things we don’t want to do the way God tells us.

We have been given the Word of God which is to guide us in this life. We can choose to read, study, and obey it; or we can have blurry vision. We can ignore it. We can refuse to obey it. We can say we don’t understand it.

Blurry vision will be no excuse when we stand before God in judgment. So, before we meet our Lord, we need to get a spiritual vision check-up.

Sandra Oliver