As I was growing up, older family members would always advise me, “Look before you leap!” What they meant was that I should think about the possible consequences of my action on myself and others before taking that action. The problem with that advice was my inability to see into the future. Jesus told Thomas, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” (John 20:29) It took a blind leap of faith for me to believe in and follow Jesus Christ, but that is an action that I will never regret.
Paul writes a very confusing statement in his second letter to the church at Corinth; “So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” (2 Corinthians 4:18) What in the world is Paul talking about? How can we fix our eyes on something we cannot see? Before I became a Christian, I was spiritually blind and that would surely have been impossible, but Paul was writing to believers, including you and me. Because God has placed His Holy Spirit in our hearts, we can look at things through His eyes, not our own. He can not only see tomorrow or next year, He can see beyond this life into the next. When we follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit, we are in effect asking Him to look before we leap.
The entire 9th chapter of the Gospel of John tells the story of a man who was blind from birth; sort of like our spiritual blindness from birth. Jesus healed him in an unusual way and on the Sabbath. As a result, the former blind beggar was called before the board of deacons (they called them Pharisees back then). They demanded to know who healed him on the Sabbath; so he told them he heard others call him Jesus, but by the time he washed the mud from his eyes and gained his sight Jesus was gone. They called his parents before them. They were scared of being tossed out of the church, so they just said that he was their son, he was born blind and now he can see. They said as far as how it happened they would have to ask him. They called him back and he said that he had already told them everything he knew and asked them if they wanted to find out more about Jesus so they could follow Him; that got him kicked out of the church. Jesus heard about what happened and found the man. He identified himself and that man then gained his spiritual sight as well as physical. Can you imagine the thrill of being led to Jesus Christ by Jesus? I recommend you read that chapter of scripture and put yourself in that man’s place, just as I have. It will open your eyes in more ways than one.