Healing Not Worth the Change

“For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.” Matthew 13:15, NIV.

Georgina* is 39 years old, and had lived with poor vision her entire life. When she heard that Western eye specialists were holding a free clinic near her little fishing village, she came to see if anything could be done for her. She looked into a strange machine (autorefractor). The foreigner said something she didn’t understand, as a translator explained that she was to try on some glasses. He then gave her the pair of glasses that the optometrist recommended.

She put them on, but as she suspected there was no noticeable change. Her heart sank, but she knew that only a miracle could make her see. The foreigner had one other pair of glasses that he wanted her to try. She felt them, and they seemed much heavier and thicker than the other glasses that she had tried. When she put the glasses on she sat in stunned silence.

Without the glasses, everything seemed small and far away. With the glasses, she could see with normal vision, which meant everything was ten times larger than what she was used to seeing. It was a huge change. The clinic came to a stop as workers and villagers watched her adjusting to her new view of her world.

The specialist who fitted Georgina with the glasses remarked that only once before had he experienced such an extreme case of needed correction. That was with a 10-year-old boy in Honduras. He was so happy to be used of God to restore her vision. One worker remarked that Georgina’s vision correction was like the people of her island. Now that they are hearing the Gospel they have a picture of God that is ten times bigger than what they are used to, but the adjustment is difficult.

Several weeks after the eye clinic, a Christian worker met Georgina. She did not have her glasses on, and the worker asked her about it. She said, “I know I see better with the glasses, but it is very difficult to get around. It is even hard to walk, and I don’t think I can make the adjustment, it is too big.”

The worker’s heart was broken over Georgina. He had such hope for her to be completely restored and see the world through healed eyes, but she was not willing to pay the short-term cost of adjusting to the new perspective. The worker also grieved because he knew many of Georgina’s people group are having the same reaction in the spiritual realm. God shows them the truth of the Gospel and the claims of Jesus, but they reject it because of the short-term struggles they see before them.

That analogy really sums up the spiritual realm on the island.  The words and promises of Jesus and the salvation He offers without cost, as it cannot be bought at any price, can restore these people to the perfection and the full perspective for which they were created. Many of the teachings of Jesus make complete sense to these people, but the cross is a stumbling block which they utterly reject. Will this people go on living with the 10 percent view of Truth when 100 percent is now within their reach? They will unless God opens their eyes to see that any adjustment is worth the healing that only Jesus can give. Georgina was right, true healing is a miracle from God. And if healing of her eyes is a miracle, how much greater a miracle is it to heal her soul and the souls of her people?

*Name changed for security reasons.

Pray that:

God will open the eyes of Georgina and her people before it is too late.

Worker’s on Georgina’s island will not lose heart, but will continue to share the Gospel faithfully.

Volunteers will continue to answer God’s call to come and share the love of Jesus in the Pacific Rim.

Pacific Rim is a region of the International Mission Board, SBC.