I can see!
On Sunday 2nd October 2022 my family and I had the privilege of witnessing the birth of wonderful kittens. Well in actual fact, I personally only got to see the first kitten being born before I had to head off to church ready for our morning worship gathering at Tiverton Baptist Church.
My wife has taken the lead in reading up on all the important information in taking care of new born kittens and the various stages of development that they go through. Just over a week after their birth they have started to open their eyes (see attached photo of one of the kittens opening their eyes).
This amazing miracle of new birth, growth, development and opening of eyes has caught my attention and it reminds me of the miracle of how God the maker of heaven and earth is able to open eyes physically and spiritually.
Here is a snippet of the wonderful account of how God opened the eyes of a certain man called Saul of Tarsus both physically and spiritually:
‘Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptised, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.’ (Acts 9:17-20 in the Bible)
There are many lessons to be learned from this true account of what happened to this man called Saul and its relevance to us today in 2022. The main lesson that I would like to humbly share in this week’s Christian Comment of our Tiverton Gazette is the crucial matter of seeing and discerning the truth.
Saul was completely convinced that he knew the truth about life, God and the universe when he was a devout Pharisee. He even thought he knew the truth about Jesus Christ until he had his amazing life transforming encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus (please have a read of the whole story in Acts 9 in the Bible). It was in this encounter with Christ that he discovered that he was blind to the truth of who Jesus actually is, and in the verses quoted above he experiences his eyes being opened (physically and spiritually) to the truth of Jesus being the very Son of God with all power and authority in this world!
This is a major challenge to us in our culture and society today, because we include a huge diversity of world views and opinions on life, God, the universe and Jesus Christ. And yet this true story of Saul who then became the great Christian missionary and apostle Paul, causes us to think again about our own world views and beliefs. How can we know what is true and if all so called truths are equally valid?
Paul the apostle and world famous Christian missionary would clearly say in our day as he did in his own day before King Agrippa:
‘I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ (Acts 26:17-18 in the Bible).
This kind of opening of eyes to see, is truly a miracle from God and I pray that God Almighty will continue to open all of our eyes to the truth of who Jesus really is at such a time as this in our world. For he is the Son of God and Saviour of the World.
God bless.
Kindest regards
Patrick Barker
Pastor at Tiverton Baptist Church