Be Careful Little “I”s What You See

Sometimes I don’t like myself. I can be pretty stubborn and sarcastic. My temper can flare up over the stupidest things. I hate it when I do it. I feel ashamed and guilty for my actions. There have been times when I was greatly offended by something which wasn’t that big of a deal. I can get jealous. I can be possessive. I can hold a grudge. I can be lazy. I can be judgmental. I can be pretty selfish.  I can be annoying. I can be many things which I do not like.

You know what my problem is? “I” issues. My vision becomes skewed and I can’t see past the nose on my face.  My “I” trouble distorts and blinds me to the truth. “I” am the one causing the problems by allowing me, myself, and I to be best friends and permitting the enemy to serve me up like a tasty piece of pie. The funny thing is there is nothing anyone can do to improve my “I” sight until I allow God to deal with my heart.

There is this gift called free will by which I delude myself into believing “I” can handle anything and everything on my own. I have had days where I thought “I” was doing so well, only to walk into a wall.  Trust me when I say it isn’t fun. Too many “I’s gives me double vision and soon I can’t tell the real from the fake.

When trouble with your eyes is affecting how you see, you make an appointment to get your eyes checked. Yet, when my “I”’s seem to be impairing me spiritually, I can easily make excuses or blame someone else. Does this sound familiar, “I” didn’t say that, “I” didn’t do it.  The biggest problem we face is making ourselves temporarily or permanently blind to the desires of God’s heart and what He wants us to see.

God’s desire is for each of us to have spiritual “I”s like the ones Paul wrote about in Ephesians 1:16-20.

¹⁶ Since then, I always give thanks for you and pray for you. ¹⁷ I pray that the great God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ may give you the wisdom of His Spirit. Then you will be able to understand the secrets about Him as you know Him better. ¹⁸ I pray that your hearts will be able to understand. I pray that you will know about the hope given by God’s call. I pray that you will see how great the things are that He has promised to those who belong to Him. ¹⁹ I pray that you will know how great His power is for those who have put their trust in Him. ²⁰ It is the same power that raised Christ from the dead. This same power put Christ at God’s right side in heaven.

The apostle Paul went from being a persecutor of Christians to praying and fighting for Christians while being persecuted himself. The account of Paul’s conversion is in the book of Acts, chapter 9, where Paul goes from being spiritually blind, to being struck blind physically, to having his physical and spiritual sight restored. How? God sent a man named Ananias to lay hands on Paul and remove the scales from his eyes and his “I”s so he was no longer blind to the truth of God. He saw God perfectly and his vision was no longer impaired because he chose to look to God and take responsibility for his own actions.

I admit there are times I need to have my spiritual sight corrected in order to prevent the onset of blindness in my own heart. It is in seeing God work in my life to remove the scales from my “I”s, I learn life’s most important lessons. “I” am not alone. “I” am forgiven. “I” am loved. I am glad God sees us with 20/20 vision and not with the eyes of the world.

Father God,

Thank You for Your wisdom and insight which allows us to see our wrongs, so we can see the gift of your unconditional love. I pray today You would open my eyes and heart to what breaks yours and teach me how to look beyond what my eyes can see as “I” put my trust in You!