Here is the revelation that is shaping my life today – I realise how blind I am to a bigger life that is all around me.
Romans 1:19-21,25 NLT
[19] They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. [20] Forever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. [21] Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. [25] They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshipped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.
Observation
If only I had eyes to see my everywhere God. God has placed his fingerprints in and on everything He creates. God is everywhere in everything making Himself plain to see if one has eyes and heart to look. “Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature.” How blind I have become. How I pass by God every day without acknowledgement, thanks, or a wave. Somehow His beauty and majesty have become hidden from me in my laziness to notice. What would my day be like if I opened my eyes? How full of love, awe, beauty, thanks and generosity, creativity and peace, would my life become if only I opened my eyes? I think this is the real maturity of spirituality, the rhythm of a contemplative stance towards each day where God is recognised and enjoyed. It’s becoming present to His everywhere presence.
In the absence of open eyes to Him, we try and fill our longing for Him, with other things. Whether we recognise or declare our longing, we all have a God longing, He gave it to us. When we don’t fill it with Him we nether the less try and fill it with ridiculous god impersonations, and worship them. Careers, money, sex, success, self, what is yours? And as a result, my “mind becomes dark and confused” to His presence and beauty. We worship that which was created and is not worthy of praise, so it does not satisfy. So my endless longing for Him fuels my continual disappointment with life and self, for these things will never satisfy. I keep trying something new, new job, new wife, new home, new car, next holiday or I drop out and medicate or I close down and become a cynic. Nothing will satisfy, yet I explore everything that I can dream up and is on offer, even though my longing is satisfied in everything around me if only I had eyes to see.
If God is in everything around me, including everyone around me, and I open my eyes and see Him, then all of a sudden everything, everyone has a new amazing dignity, incredible value, and deep beauty. I am transformed from judgement to awe, no matter how covered the fingerprints of God may be, the reality is He is there, and so I must respond with Him, His presence. What this does to how I treat others and creation is blowing my mind. How I have abused God so off-handedly and viciously in the past. This awakening not only transforms me, but it also transforms everything around me and releases me into a fullness of life that I never dreamed possible.
Application
Open my eyes! I refuse to not see what is there to be seen. I will not walk around blind to the true beauty of life all around me. The God who is everywhere I will open my eyes to see. The God who is in everyone, I will open my heart to embrace. The God who is in everything, I will open my mind to appreciate and give thanks.
Response
Thank you that you want to be known by me so you make yourself plain to see. Thank you that you invite me to see beyond, deeper, into the you within your creation. Thank you for the inherent dignity and beauty that this understanding transforms all things. I am blessed to live this life. Open my eyes!
Meditation
Meditation truth – you can clearly see God’s invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature, in everything.
Consider:
How blind are you to the everywhereness of God?
How would it transform your life if you opened your eyes?
JOURNEY DEEPER
