TODAY IS…

the right day to ask, “How do I see things?”

“To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.”  Titus 1:15 NIV

We are all familiar with the question, “Is the glass half full or half empty?”

No matter who is looking at the glass, the amount of water in the glass is the same, so what could possibly account for people seeing things differently? Is not the human eye basically constructed the same in all humans? The color of our eye doesn’t change what we see; the shape of our eye doesn’t change what we see; and the gender of our eye does not change what we see.

What, then, does cause us to see what should be the same thing, in different ways?

Obviously the difference must come from within. Our education definitely influences our perception, but so does the environment in which we were raised.

How we were raised spiritually also affects how we see things.

Some of us look around at the world and manage to see good things everywhere, in spite of the evil that exists. Some of us look at the same thing and see mostly that which is evil. When Paul wrote his letter to Titus instructing him how to organize the churches on the Isle of Crete, he pointed out that people see with their eyes, but how they interpret what they are looking at is determined by what is in their hearts.

This is not to say, necessarily, that if we see only evil, or mostly evil, that we are evil. This only points out that the negative things in the world are what we focus on internally.

With Christ in control of our lives and with our focus daily on the lessons He taught, we can learn to fill our hearts with the things that are required to see more of what is right with the world.

Of course, we don’t want to be blind to the pain of others or the needs of those less fortunate than ourselves, but we must focus our “…thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” (Philippians 4:8 NLT).

This will enable us to see more of what is good in the world and it will also enable others to see the good in us. And with everyone seeing more good, the world can slowly become less evil.

The question for today is, “How do you see things?”

Ask Jesus Christ to help you answer in the right way.

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Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson