Cataracts

As folks who know me are aware I’m suffering right now from cataracts in both eyes. That’s nothing unusual for someone who’s pushing the Big 5-0, or at least it isn’t unheard of, but frankly I was surprised that I had them when the eye doctor told me about them a couple of years ago. Until that diagnosis I really hadn’t noticed a diminishing in my vision, or if I did I just put it down to my near sightedness (I’ve worn glasses since my teens) getting worse.

Now that I know what the problem is I can see its effects just about everywhere I look (no pun intended). What is actually a clear mid winter afternoon looks like the air is full of smoke from a distant grass fire, and at night car headlights, stop lights, and street lights all have what looks like a fireworks starburst effect around them. It is so bad I have trouble seeing the cars for the glare, and if anyone is around the vehicles I can’t see them at all unless they move in front of the lights. Even the moon and stars appear to be shining through thin clouds when the sky is absolutely clear, and while some of the fainter stars are blocked by the lights of the town I live in, more are hidden by the clouds in my eyes.

Fortunately, although in the natural world the cataracts would just keep getting worse until I became totally blind, medical technology has been able to remove them for well over a century, and today, with the use of intraocular implants, even the need for glasses has been reduced. Although I have some apprehension and a little fear of the procedure itself, I know the physician who will perform the operation has done it many times before, and will be with me throughout the whole procedure. While I know there are some risks with any surgical procedure, I know the results will be worth it.

As I was thinking about these things it struck me how much it parallels the human condition (for lack of a better phrase). All through life sin clouds a person’s spiritual vision, and many don’t even realize it until it is too late, and they are beyond help. Even when the problem has been recognized and the person’s sins dealt with by the blood Jesus of Nazareth shed on the cross, the old sin nature still remains in the life of a Christian. And that sin nature, although under the control of the Holy Spirit, will remain until it is left behind at the Christian’s physical death. While it remains it clouds the glory of God for the believer, and we know that only after death will we be totally free of the influence of sin.

To those outside of Christ death is terrifying, because all people know they must face it. Even for Christians, for whom Jesus has removed the sting of death, it remains an unknown that causes apprehension and more than a little fear. We have an advantage, however, because our Great Physician has been through the process of death Himself, He has conquered it, and when our time comes He will be there to guide us through it.

Even as I am anticipating seeing the beauty of the natural world clearly again with the film of cataracts removed from my natural eyes, I am looking forward to seeing my Lord clearly, in all His glory, once the film of the sin nature has been removed from my spiritual eyes. It is my prayer that you, too, will come to the Great Physician for salvation.