Bo Chancey

My high school football coach had a lot of fantastic sayings. Some of them didn’t make much sense though. He used to yell, “Pin your ears back!” to get us to hustle. When we were hurt, he would yell “Rub some dirt on it”. If we made a mistake he would just turn beet red and scream, “Horse Manure”. If someone dropped a pass, he would accuse them of “Having hands like a fish”. He was kind of weird, but amongst all the weirdness there were some great nuggets of wisdom.

One of those nuggets was this little gem: “You can’t hit what you can’t see”. He must have said that to me a thousand times, but it still didn’t register. He wanted me to keep my head up and eyes open when making a tackle. Most of the time I had no issue with this, but whenever I was in a game situation and had a free shot at the quarterback my eyes would go haywire. I would play perfect technique. I would shed my blocker, take on the double team, recognize pass, and take the perfect path to sack the QB. But just as I was preparing to make the hit, images of glory would fill my mind. I could see myself laying out that no-good, pretty boy, pansy-faced QB (you can kind of see how I felt about quarterbacks). I could sense cameras flashing as they captured the hit for the front page of Saturday’s sports section. I could hear praise from my coaches and “oooohs & aaahs” from my teammates in the film room. I could see college scholarship offers from all over the country. And in that split second I would close my eyes and try to hit what I could no longer see. It sounds crazy, but I did this at least five times during my senior season and all five times I missed the QB completely. Instead of making a big play to help my team, I just embarrassed myself.

Jesus says that if our eyes are bad that our whole bodies will be full of darkness. If our vision isn’t clear it is a reflection of a darkened heart. When we go through life only seeing what we want to see and ignoring the things that God is drawing us to see, we live in the worst kind of darkness. It is the darkness that is founded in self-deception. It is a self-imposed darkness that many never escape.

Our culture promotes this kind of vision problem. This world tells us to be consumed with self. It tells us to look for number one and at best ignore those who are less fortunate. At its’ worst this world tells us to take advantage of and abuse the helpless and needy. This is completely counter to the vision that God has. God sees the hungry, the broken-hearted, the imprisoned, the lonely, the homeless, the sick, and the frail and He wants us to see them too.

When our vision is clear, our lives will be filled with light. Deny the urge to have “selective vision” by rejecting any notion of selfishness. Ask God to remove any blinders you have put in place. Ask Him to allow you to see as He sees. Pray that your vision may be clear and pure so that you can truly be the light of God in this world.

Ephesians 1:18
18I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,