To Correct My Vision

I thought it was fitting, as I looked up the hymn story of Be Thou My Vision, that there isn't very  much information.  The words to this song are from an anonymous irish poet from the 8th century. It was translated to English by Mary Byrne and published in 1905.  The tune was published in 1909 and the words and tune were joined together in 1919.  There is not a glorious back story to why this hymn was written.  Doesn't that just make sense?  Our vision should be focused on the Lord, not on the story behind the hymn.  What a good start for my year!

It seems with having this as my forethought, many scriptures and sermons are all pointing towards making sure my vision is correct.  In a message preached last night by Bro. Dave Sommerdorf, I was of reminded this again. He preached from Philippians 2 where Paul mentions his friend Epaphroditus.  These two were not the likely pair.  They had vastly different backgrounds, one of the major ones is being Jew and Gentile.  But, then, the Lord comes into play.  It's amazing how when we know Christ, he bridges the gap and creates a unity and bond among believers.  It's called the Family of God.  So thankful for that!    But, when we get our eyes off of Jesus, the family seems pretty dysfunctional, and we argue and complain.

 In I Corinthians, Paul talks of "no divisions among you" and "dwelling together in unity."  With our family and friends we sometimes struggle to do that.  Disagreements and spats come up too easily.  We have people we would rather avoid than to be around.  We have those we feel we don't have much in common with, and choose not to say more than a "hello" to.  That's a vision problem.

  When our focus is on others and on ourselves it's easy to see the differences and difficulties.  We easily get offended.  We decide to pick people apart and try to change them.  It's a vision problem.

But, when our eyes are on Christ, we draw closer to Him.  And when we draw closer to Him, we aren't looking at the faults of others and ourselves.  We're looking at Jesus!  When we look to Him, He gives us the bond of unity that Paul talks about in Ephesians 4:1-3.  It's amazing!

So, I wonder, how are your relationships today?  Is there a wall between you and someone else?  It may be that it's time to correct your vision.