–We had technical difficulties recording this morning’s sermon. Only the manuscript is available–
Historians believe that the ancient Chinese were the first to use eyeglasses as early as the 11th century A.D. The first certain historical record of lenses being used for optical correction comes from the 13th century Europe. By the 15th century glasses were being regularly used in Italy.
500 years later we are still wearing eyeglasses. Of course, our eyewear is more sophisticated and the technology behind them much more advanced. In addition to glasses, we also use contact lenses. And in the last few years, we have developed surgical techniques such as radio-keratotomy that actually reshape the eye.
Our eyewear today not only serves a medical purpose, but makes a fashion statement as well. You can spend hundreds of dollars for frames with a certain designer name, or gold plating. You can choose contact lenses that change the color of your eyes.
But none of these things obscures that reason why we have eyewear to begin with. It is because we have vision problems. Most people do not see perfectly, and most of us reach a point in our lives where we have to do something about it.
But our most important vision problems are not in our eyes, but in our hearts. But unlike physical vision, we can’t just put eyeglasses on our heart and correct our spiritual vision.
In Genesis 13, we see a time in Abraham’s life that shows the contrasts between earthly vision and spiritual vision. There we see the hidden dangers of earthly vision and the unexpected reward of spiritual vision.