Spiritual glaucoma

“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.” 2 Corinthians 10:4 NIV

When you get old you end up talking about all of your medical conditions. Sometimes I feel like one of those drug commercials with all the warnings. One of my conditions is called low tension glaucoma. It just means that I do not have very good peripheral vision. Actually, I have none. My wife can literally see behind her back while looking forward. I can really only see what is right in front of me.

When this condition was first discovered she would ask me whether or not I could see things at various angles just to help understand it. The funny thing about not being able to see certain things is that you do not know you are not seeing them. It takes someone pointing them out to make you realize it.

It is kind of funny but my personality is sort of like that too. I tend to deal with things right in front of me far better than issues that are not in my direct line of sight. We have all heard news of war or conflict in various parts of the world for as long as we can remember. That is not new, but for some reason the current situation involving Russia invading Ukraine seems more of a central issue to me. Maybe I am just paying more attention.

What I keep seeing on the news involves massive amounts of weaponry and troops being deployed. We know who the enemy is. We know what weapons are being placed in position to threaten peace. The current leader of Russia has been in power for more than two decades. We know who he is, and we know his nature. None of his current plans are a surprise.

I know this is real and I am not making light of it to make a point, but it does bring up an issue that seems to be relevant. We have a spiritual enemy. He has always been around. We often know the weapons formed against us, but the wounds are still painful. If I allow it, he will do worse than end my life. He would instead prefer to keep me around and let my demise affect every single person I love as well as some I don’t even know. One fight turns into multiple battles all of which are aimed at confinement of me and people in my life. This same enemy has eyes on your life too.

I am not trying to scare anyone. It just seems to me that we get so focused on things right in front of us that we miss all the ground he takes outside of our direct line of sight. The result can be a life attacked on multiple fronts more and more spiritually constricted – without me even putting up a fight.

I may be working hard to support my family while not noticing that my wife doesn’t feel like a priority at all. I may love my kids to the end of the earth but they cannot remember a time when they were important enough for me to spend time with them without an agenda. I may have lots of friends, all of whom I would do anything for, but I may not have spent a minute praying for their protection or calling just to encourage them.

Don’t be fooled. You have a spiritual enemy who is cunning and would love nothing more than to end your freedom. Don't think we are the one who has to fight. Deploy the lion of Judah Himself.

Fear is not the answer. Paying attention to the spiritual army at our disposal is.

We know God as the lamb, but God is also more fierce than any enemy I face.

Challenge: I don’t think I get caught off guard by the bigger, more obvious attacks. I can see those coming and at least try to respond well. For me, I think the bigger threat is when I allow little bits of ground to be taken. They add up without me seeing what is right in front of me.

Rick Claiborn