The Gospel lens: How wearing new specs helped me to understand the gospel better.

Last year, Abisha had a minor accident which hurt her eye. It didn't look good and we rushed to the eye doctor. Thankfully, it was a superficial injury which the doc said would heal quickly. And since we were at the doctor’s, I got my eyes checked as well. After seeing my eye through a fancy looking machine, I was surprised when the doctor said I need to wear glasses. Of course my eyes did hurt sometimes when I sit in front of the screen for a long time, but glasses now? Anyway, he made me read the letters on the screen, as he kept changing the lenses. And voila, for a certain lens, the words and numbers looked surprisingly clearer than before. This bewildered me. I really haven't felt the need for glasses for more than 3 decades, do I need it now? I could read, drive, and recognise people in the distance without them.  

I put off getting the new specs for a few months, but eventually, Abisha got one for me. It was time for me to try them on. On one side, I was excited like a child to see if it’s truly going to make a difference. On the other hand, I was sceptical. Will this really work? What if this is just a waste of money. 

I wore them. And, it hit me right away. Suddenly, the room looked brighter, clearer, crisper. The red border on the cushion cover looked royal. For a moment, I took the glasses off to compare and there was a pervasive dullness and lull around. I wore them back again. It felt like light pierced through my eye-balls and activated the sensors on my retina. Everything did look brighter, better & sharper and in 3D! I had to tell Abisha that she looked more beautiful, wiser and taller. How she blushed! I could see the red on her cheeks.

That night as I lay in bed with a lot of residual excitement, it made me wonder, how keeping a piece of glass of the right focal length, made such a difference to the world around me. Everything looked better. And then it struck me, isn’t the gospel very similar? I am trotting around my world believing my life is ok. I can manage with what I know, with what I have and what I understand. But then I hear the gospel message and suddenly it seems different. It seems like a subtle change, yet it changes everything!

The doctor said I did not ‘develop’ this eye condition recently but had this since my birth. I just did not know! How very similar I thought. I was born a sinner. But I never knew or felt the need of being saved. I was a good guy externally, wasn’t I? Just knowing that I am a sinner in need of a saviour locates me in the right position. But, praise be to God, my sinfulness is not a dead end for me. Jesus created a pathway through Him to see the life He had designed for us. And in knowing, understanding, assimilating, applying this message in my  life is who I should see the world. I see the sin in me. It helps me repent soon for I am forgiven when I confess my sin. In Spite of my brokenness, I cherish the fact that I am a beloved son and accepted by the Maker. When I see the sin & brokenness in others, It does not make me condemn or hate them but show them love and pray for them to experience the gospel. 

After a few days, I felt everything looked hazy. I had to take the glasses off, wipe them with a solution and it became clear again. Again, I thought, the gospel is a powerful, deep, dynamic message which needs me to grapple with it more. As I grow older, the more I experience the world, the more relevant the gospel becomes to me as it is applicable to every area of my life. If I believe it to be a one time learning or experience, the world will become hazy again. 

There were several more metaphors I could think of from me wearing specs and understanding the gospel but I’ll stop here. One small change in my life made me see the world differently. Sometimes, choosing to follow God might not have fireworks and confetti flying around, but oh, it undeniably transforms everything.