A Correct Vision
By Pastor Marvin Byers
The young officer and his soldiers were under heavy enemy attack. He had lost all radio contact with his commander, who was 40 kilometers away. Considering his situation, he may as well have been on the other side of the world, as he was, in fact, on the other side of the enemy lines.
The officer knew that reinforcements could be sent to deliver his company from the attack and save their lives, if he could only send a message to his base. But his radio was dead. So he resorted to his last option: on a slip of paper, he scribbled a note that briefly described his position and situation.
He then gently took a dove from its cage. He had brought this dove with him for a situation like this. He tied the slip of paper to the dove’s leg and released it. Immediately, the dove began to ascend in circles, and after just a few seconds, it chose its course and flew in a straight line to the base—the only place of salvation for that young officer’s men. Twenty-five minutes later, the dove landed on the commander’s windowsill.
When the commander tenderly lifted the little bird, he not only discovered the note, but also that the note was tied to the only leg that the dove had left. The other had been destroyed by enemy fire and its chest had been injured by a bullet. In a matter of minutes, his men were on their way to successfully rescue the trapped soldiers. In a matter of minutes medical attention was also given to save the dove that had risked its own life to save others.
This narration is based on real events of World War I. In the course of history, up through the 1950s during the Korean War, doves have been used to send messages. Doves have the almost-supernatural ability to fly directly to their master’s house from any distance, up to one thousand kilometers away, even though they may seem to have no apparent way of knowing where they are. Modern science is still unable to explain how a dove can instinctively and immediately fly to its master from any location and through any obstacle encountered on the way. Scientists know that doves can see things that we humans cannot see.
In the Song of Solomon 1:15 the King tells his beloved that her eyes are like doves’ eyes. Evidently, this is a key part of her beauty. Those are the spiritual eyes that the Lord wants to create in our spiritual man. They are the eyes that continually turn to Him and focus on Him regardless of where they are, what surrounds them, or how many difficulties they may be confronting in life.
As we learn to turn our sight always toward the beauty of Jesus during the day, without regard to distractions, our eyes will become more and more like doves’ eyes. Thus, as He becomes more and more beautiful to us, we will become more and more beautiful to Him.
Just like the Lord has given doves the ability to see what men cannot see, He can make our eyes, too, see what others do not see. He can give us a vision of Himself, and of the spiritual sphere, in the same way in which he made Moses see the invisible (Hebrews 11:27).
The Lord can make our eyes see Him who reigns sovereignly over all and in all, even though all may seem to go wrong and enemy bullets are flying in every direction. When everyone else’s sight and mind are fixed on the surrounding problems, or when they see the devil in the midst of the fiery furnace, the Lord can give us eyes to see the Son of God in the midst of this same fiery furnace.
Can your eyes see the King and the Kingdom of God daily? Or is your vision blocked by the illusory vanities of the current world?
Jesus declared that man begins to see the Kingdom of God when he is born again. With the experience of being born again, we begin to become part of the heavenly sphere. Our spiritual eyes are opened for the first time, and we see that the only life that is worth living is that which is lost in God and is completely surrendered to Him. A Christian that has just been born again is full of the first love, and his heavenly vision is suddenly so clear, that he can only think and speak about Jesus.
After being born again, our vision can be easily clouded by the things of this world. We can come to allow earthly problems to darken our vision to such an extent that we lose sight of Him who is invisible. We all confront problems in one way or another—problems at work, problems at school, problems with our spouse, problems with our children, problems with our friends, problems in the church, problems with our vehicle, problems with our house, problems with the bank, problems with the telephone company. The list seems to be endless.
When speaking about our “vision,” I am not referring to a supernatural experience, a trance. I am referring to the fact that our daily walk must be controlled by our spiritual understanding, so that we may see things from God’s perspective instead of seeing them from man’s perspective. It is a spiritual mentality that emerges as we spend time in God’s presence and in Scriptures—it involves having a goal in life that changes our way of thinking, acting, speaking, and walking.
In this world, there are many different visions for people to choose from. Mohammed gave the Islamic world a vision. According to two sacred books of Islam, the Qur’an and the Hadith, the goal of every true Muslim must be the conquest of the world and killing all the unbelievers.
Fortunately, in all history there have not been enough people following Mohammed wholeheartedly, so as to cause total chaos in the world, but this is rapidly changing.
The media refer frequently to problems provoked by “a few radical Islamic fundamentalists in the Middle East” who are the cause of so much terror, violence, torture, and bloodshed. There are two things that the world has not fully recognized though the facts are indisputable. One fact is that they are not “radical” Muslims. In reality, they are simply faithful Muslims who have received Mohammed’s vision.
Secondly, they are not few in number—there are several millions of them. Their great numbers assure the world that there will be no shortage of Islamic youth of both genders who will be more than happy to be suicide bombers. Their “vision” tells them that this is the path that takes them directly to Mohammed’s heaven (what the Bible describes as the lake of fire). Just like the vision of a true Muslim affects the way in which he thinks, acts, speaks, and walks, a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ and his truth will do the same in us. It is easy to detect a man who has a real vision, whether of God or of something else in life. That vision consumes him.
Thomas Alba Edison was a man of this type. He was consumed by the urge to find a way of converting electricity into light. There came a point when he spent four days and four nights in his laboratory, searching for the secret of the incandescent light bulb.
During those days, he neither ate nor slept. I ask myself what is needed so that we would be so consumed by a vision of God, that we would be able to make this type of effort even once, seeking Him wholeheartedly!
May we not only seek the Lord with the same intensity that Edison demonstrated, but also, on a spiritual level, for the same reason as Edison—to find the light of life!
Through the prophet Malachi, the Lord reveals an amazing heavenly fact: “Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.” In God’s presence, a book is being written about the life of each Christian. Each time we speak of the Lord and think on his name, our words and thoughts are recorded in that book. So we must ask ourselves, “How many records of me are there in it?”
Why would the Lord do something like that? Because he knows that the thoughts and conversations of every human being turns continually toward what he loves most. It truly is amazing to observe how this works in real life. If a man loves to fish, he will try to turn any conversation with any person to the topic of fishing. In reality, he cannot do anything to avoid it, as that is what he speaks and thinks about almost continually. If the other person is not interested in fishing, the conversation will probably end up being very brief.
It is not difficult for God to determine what it is that each one of us really loves.
It is not difficult even for us to determine that. If we recall the most frequent topic of our last ten conversations, not related to our business or work, we will know what it is that we truly love in life. The Lord knows this, but do we know it? That is why He writes a book of remembrance for those who speak of Him (those who fear Him) and think upon His name, as the only reason for doing so is that they are being consumed by a love for Him—and He fills their vision as they journey through this life.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed strenuously and asked the Father, if possible, to remove that cup from Him that he was being called to drink. That was the cup of sin for all humanity. As Paul wrote, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin.” Jesus knew that he would lose his intimate relationship with the Father for a time, as the Father cannot tolerate sin. He knew that he would soon exclaim, “My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
When Jesus prayed, his sweat fell to the ground as great drops of blood.
He shed sweat and tears in his attempt to avoid losing the intimate relationship with his Father. How much sweat and tears are we willing to shed, so long as we find that intimate relationship with Him? The answer to this question is vitally linked to whether or not we have eyes like doves’ eyes. If our vision continually turns toward the Master, if we see the Invisible, who is what others do not see, we will seek Him with all our heart. Our vision will become clearer each day and that vision will change our purpose itself of living. It will change the most remote corners of our heart, and the glory of the Lord will come upon us.