15-5

The Island of the Colorblind

When was the last time you just sat in awe of God? Odds are it has been awhile. Leonardo da Vinci said that the average person "looks without seeing, listens without hearing, touches without feeling, eats without tasting, inhales without awareness of odor or fragrance, and talks without thinking." It sounds like a sad existence doesn't it? You have to feel bad for people who are in such a hurry that they can't appreciate what is going on right in front of their eyes. Do you think that is how God feels about us?

"Is it possible that we've given God a passing glance instead of truly hallowing His name? Is it possible we've settled for a god who fits into the constraints of our logical left brains instead of the God who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can imagine with our right brains? Is it possible we've studied the God of logic without truly worshiping the God of wonders?"

Last week we said that loving God with our heart means having a heart that breaks for the things that break the heart of God. Well, loving God with our soul means having "a soul full of wonder, a soul flooded with the glory of God, a soul awed by beauty and mystery, a soul that hallows God above all else."

We have a tendency to come at God from a logical perspective. We want the facts. But the truth is that facts don't awe us. Don't get me wrong, God is factual. But God is more than factual. "He is wonderful. The mind is educated with facts, but the soul is educated with beauty and mystery. And the curriculum is creation."

"In its most primal form, worship is wonder. It is standing in awe of the Creator and His creation. It is giving credit where credit is due; the Creator." When was the last time you marveled at a thunderstorm or went down and applauded as the sun set over the skyline? Elizabeth Barret Browning put it this way: "Earth's crammed with heaven, and every common brush afire with God: But only he who sees, takes off his shoes, The rest sit round it, and pluck blackberries."

In other words, open your eyes and look at what God is doing! So many of us are like the people Oliver Sacks writes about in 'The Island of the Colorblind.' He writes of a group of people who live on an island in the South Pacific. After a typhoon came through and ravaged the island, only about 20 people survived, and in the coming years, a peculiar thing started happening. In most places in the world, colorblindness is hardly epidemic, in fact only 1 in 30,000 people are colorblind. But on this island, 1 in 12 was born with this condition. That means that even though they lived on a tropical island, they could not appreciate its true beauty because they could not see any of the lush colors that surrounded them on every side. It's sad, isn't it? But many of us live in the presence of God and don't realize it or give it a second thought. We are surrounded by God's glory, but we can't see it. Why is that?

We are sleepwalking through life. "Our eyes are open, but the vacant look reveals an empty soul. At best we're half awake. And just like the physical condition, we're unaware of our spiritual condition until someone or something wakes us up. We're unaware of the miracles happening all around us all the time. We're unaware of the spiritual warfare that is being waged all around us all the time. We're unaware of what the Spirit of God is doing all around us all the time."

It is time to wake up sleepers. It is time to regain our sense of wonder at who God is and what He is doing. Only then can we be spiritually mature. "Spiritual maturity has nothing to do with circumstances. It has everything to do with consciousness. A relationship with Christ doesn't always change our circumstances, but it does change the way we see ourselves, see others, and see God. Why? Because we see with our souls."

Enjoy the Journey