I’ve worn glasses as far back as I can remember.

I don’t know if I can think of a time when I didn’t have glasses. Class photos place this life milestone around second grade. Unfortunately, my introduction to corrective lenses wasn’t a pleasant one. In the 80s, it was — in my humble opinion — very uncool to wear glasses. Adding insult to injury, my glasses were neither sleek nor fashionable nor an acceptable color.

My glasses were a brownish, polycarbonate plastic something-or-other that mimicked owl eyes. In addition to those frames, my eyesight was so poor that the lenses were, at minimum, the thickness of the bottom of a glass bottle of Coca-Cola. Imagine my poor little seven-year-old self, just trying to make sense of her culture and environment, having to navigate this additional “burden.” It felt like I was swimming in the deep end without a floatie. 

I made up many excuses and tried all the tricks to not wear my glasses. Naively, I begged my parents to let biology do its thing without intervention. I asked to be moved to the front of the class to see the board better. I sat closer to the TV; I even tried to compensate for my unclear vision by filling in the gaps and guessing letters and words that danced in front of my eyes while reading. Despite these challenges, the fact remained I needed these glasses. I needed them to learn, to make sense of my surroundings, to see — to live. Without them, life was a blur, and I could not focus on anything that was more than a few inches from my face. This presented a serious safety and quality-of-life issue that only corrective lenses could fix, regardless of my feelings about them or what childish taunts accompanied them.  

In Hebrews 12:2, we are encouraged to “fix our eyes” on Jesus, the “author and perfecter of our faith.” As someone who struggles (and I mean struggle with a capital S) with seeing things clearly without glasses, the beginning of this verse speaks to both little me with the owl-framed lenses and the woman sitting with you as you read today. Wearing glasses is critical for me to focus and fix my eyes on the things necessary to live a full and abundant life. In like manner, we focus and fix our eyes on Jesus so we can see as we should and live a full, abiding life in Him. Since we are truth-telling here, I confess that sometimes it can feel very uncomfortable to fix our eyes on Jesus when other things are vying for our attention.

Can I also share how often I can become the queen of excuses when I know I should focus fully on Jesus? Can anyone else relate?

I have learned the importance of intentionally fixing our eyes on Christ regardless of what we may be tempted to view around us. When our gaze drifts from Him, our vision is blurry and distorted. Hello, spiritual astigmatism! We become troubled and transfixed on the things around us rather than on Him. As our focus wanes, so does our trust in the One who is the author and perfecter of our faith. Having sight but not being able to see Jesus and His work in our lives would be a tragedy more daunting than we can even imagine. 

As an adult, I have had years to accept the necessity of wearing glasses. I have even had the option of using contacts to help me sojourn my world and experience life with clarity. What started as the correction of my physical sight allowed me to gain spiritual insight. I pray that you will also find this to be true in your life. I challenge you to put on your spiritual glasses (no matter what they look like), use those spiritual corrective lenses, and fix your eyes on Jesus so that you gain the vision He has for you . . . and much more.

May we see life through the lenses of His love, mercy, and grace — and may we live undistracted by the things around us. As we fix our eyes on Jesus, we will find our sight restored and our faith renewed, day by day.

Listen to Quantrilla’s devotion here or wherever you stream podcasts!

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