Presentation is Everything

“And all the people saw him walking and praising God.”

Acts 3:9

 

          The human eye is truly an amazing creation. Capable of taking in more information in one second than man’s best super-computer could compute in a thousand years, it is one of the most delicate parts of the body. Charles Darwin himself admitted that “to suppose that the eye, with so many parts all working together. . .could have formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree.” There is simply no way the eye could have evolved as a result of unintelligent mutations occurring on the non-formulated basis of random chance.

          Sight, being one of five senses, is one of the main ways that humans absorb and process information. Not only do we take in an enormous amount of data regarding our physical surroundings, but we also calculate emotions, opinions and impressions based primarily on what we see with our eyes. Seeing the plight of an under-privileged child will most often create more sympathy than a written story will. A first impression is usually based on what you visually observe. Even political opinions can be bias based on what an individual sees. John F. Kennedy won the presidency because, according to women, he was the better looking candidate.

          The Bible has some interesting insight into the eye. Throughout the psalms, David mentions how God watches the righteous with His eye and how He guides His people with His eye. In Isaiah 1:15, God tells the Israelites that He will refuse to see them when they spread out their hands to Him because of the iniquity of their hearts. Later on in Isaiah, the prophet warns the children of Israel that their lying tongue and the wickedness of their hands have provoked the Lord’s eyes of glory. The Bible also speaks about the eye in regards to mankind. When the woman saw the fruit of the tree, that is was pleasant to the eyes, and desirable for knowledge, she took and ate. When Adam had eaten of it, their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked. Contrast that with Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian church that “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power.”

          So what is the point of this? The point is that so much information is processed through the avenue of the eyes. In today’s verse, what did the people see? They saw a man that sat daily at the temple begging alms walking and praising God. Because they saw, they listened to Peter. Because they listened to Peter, they believed. They could not deny what they saw with their own eyes. They must have been aware of the consequences of that belief. In Acts four, Luke relays how, as Peter was preaching, the religious leaders laid hands on them and put them into custody. Yet in the very next verse it says, “However, many of those who heard the word believed and the number of the men came to be about 5000.” Would they have heard the word if they hadn’t seen the man? I don’t know. But my guess would be probably not.

          Knowing how important the eye is, and how much of our opinions and impressions are based on what we see, shouldn’t it make us a little more cautious about the image we are portraying to the world? We are the representatives of Christ. We are His ambassadors, predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. (Romans 8:29) When people look at me, they ought to see Jesus. Everything about my person should be a conscience reminder to the world that there is a God and He is alive. They can argue with facts, they can argue with reason, they can even argue with common sense, but they cannot argue with what God has done in my life.

          Because of what Christ has done for me, God now sees me clothed in the righteousness of His own Son. When the world sees me, may it see a sinner saved by grace through faith, who is incurably abandoned to the will of her Savior. And despite my remaining prickles and stains, may the heart of my Savior and the glory of my God, permeate throughout my entire being, that they might see and hear and believe.

“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put in under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16)