The Seeing That Creates Chaos

A call to pay attention to why, how and what we look at

Dear #DailyFollower,

Introduction

Our eyes (inner and outer) are critical to the functioning of our entire body.

Even when the outer eyes don’t work, the vision of the inner eyes can still power the building of an outstanding life; several examples establish this; the likes of Bernard Morin, Stevie Wonder, ​Marla Runyan, Cobhams Asuquo prove the power of the inner eyes and how critical seeing is to our existence.

How we see matters. As I shared in yesterday's piece, our seeing either significantly improves our lives or creates chaos (the subject of today’s letter).

Moses and Zacchaeus, from yesterday’s letter (and Rahab, too), paid attention to see sights (the burning bush, Jesus, the works of God in favour of Israel) that transformed their lives.

Today, I’ll share two examples of people who also chose to see, but in their case, seeing got them in trouble.

Example #1: The Adam & Eve Story

Genesis 3:6, AMPC
⁶ And when the woman saw that the tree was good (suitable, pleasant) for food and that it was delightful to look at, and a tree to be desired in order to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she gave some also to her husband, and he ate.

First, let me say that Adam is also part of this story, not only because he ate the fruit but also because he did everything Eve did, i.e., saw, desired, and took the fruit. I don’t believe Eve had to look for him; he must have been a part of Eve’s conversation with the snake (but that’s not the point of this piece, so let me get back on topic 😁).

Adam and Eve welcomed chaos into their lives and our world because of three actions that started with seeing. They:

1. Saw that the tree was good (suitable, pleasant) for food and delightful to look at,

2. Desired the outcome (to make one wise) that the tree’s fruit would deliver and

3. Took the tree’s fruit and ate it for their perceived expected outcome.

However, their perceived outcomes didn’t pan out as expected; instead, they got expelled from Eden's beautiful, well-resourced garden and plunged the entire creation into a chaotic existence.

With their choices and actions, they created a pattern of choices and actions that would always lead to chaos, a pattern that’s been perpetuated throughout history.

A pattern that daily followers of Jesus must actively pay attention to break.

Example #2: The Ananias & Sapphira Story

There is no precise sequence of seeing, desiring, and taking in the story of Ananias and Sapphira, but by considering the story in context, we can deduce how their actions mirrored those of Adam and Eve.

A quick background: God worked mightily through His Spirit in and through the First Church. Generosity was one of the apparent fruits of the work of the Holy Spirit, and we could see believers selling their properties and bringing the proceeds to give them to the apostles (Acts 4:32-37, EXB).

Now, following this mighty move of God’s Spirit and the naming of Barnabas’ generosity (my interpretation of the Scriptures), I believe Ananias and Sapphira (story in Acts 5:1-11, EXB):

1. Saw an opportunity also to be recognised by the apostles for their generosity,

2. Desired the name recognition that would come with their generous giving and

3. Took actions to be deceitful in their giving to the apostles after their property sale.

They both were expelled from life—a devastatingly unexpected outcome if you asked them how they hoped their plans would pan out before they went to the apostles on that fateful day.

Conclusion

The sequence of temptations that distracts us from our commitment to daily following usually starts with seeing as we shouldn’t, i.e., not allowing our sights to be influenced by all we’ve learned in God’s Word and from God’s Spirit.

Seeing this way awakens desires that don’t align with God’s expectations of us as daily followers, which [i.e., desires] take us away from the God who wants to see us in His presence and speak to us, as He did with Moses, Zacchaeus and Rahab.

As these desires take root in our hearts, they lead to [taking] actions that dishonour God.

As daily followers committed to being witnesses that God can count on to partner with Him in the things He’s doing and blessing in our days, we want to pay attention to what we see and how we process what we see.

If what we see doesn’t lead us to a deeper communion with God, we should refocus our precious gaze on what sets us on a path that makes a positive difference in our lives.

We can avoid more chaos in an already chaotic world by keeping our gaze on Jesus and making Him the filter through which we look at everything around us.

Yours faithfully,
John, a #DailyFollower.

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