A Polished Faith

“I am the Gate; whoever enters through Me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.”- John 10:9

The other day I was catching-up with my oldest son who just completed his freshman year of college. He had come home briefly but was gone again visiting friends before he starts his summer job. He was super excited about how he had spent the day: washing and polishing his new, used car. He couldn’t believe the difference that all the scrubbing and serious elbow grease had made.

Last Sunday during the second service, the Holy Spirit gave me a word that communicates a similar idea. During worship I saw a picture of a dirty and rusty GATE. I also began to imagine a person exerting great effort to repair, polish and paint the gate. As the Lord often does, He changed my perspective of the meaning and application of the picture. He showed me that Jesus is the GATE—and as the gate, He is perfect, beautiful, and strong in every possible way and dimension.

We tend to see the problem, the imperfections, the immovable mountains that are before us (and all around us), and we try to solve them ourselves. The reality is that no amount of covering or touching them up will bring the restoration that is needed. The work the Lord really wants is accomplished by our allowing Him to touch and cleanse our eyes so we would have the ability to SEE Him as He truly is and to WALK by faith. 2 Corinthians 5:7 tells us, “We live by faith, not by sight.” Many times the problem is not what is BEFORE US, but how we VIEW it. The OBJECT is not the issue, rather our OPTICS are. The Lord wants to change the way we see things, by touching our eyes so that our faith would be built on His promises that never fade away.

Let us take time to meditate on these Scriptures and allow our faith to Shine like brand new!

1 Corinthians 2:9-10- “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived—the things God has prepared for those who love Him—these are the things God has revealed to us by His Spirit.”

Matthew 5:8- “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

Ephesians 1:18- “I pray that the eyes of your understanding may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people.”

Psalm 119:18- “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in Your law.”

Psalm 118:23- “The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.”