Object lessons - 5 minute devotionals to give - Visine

  I once heard an eye doctor (ophthalmologist) talk about one over the counter product that he hated. That product was Visine.

        

 

So why would an eye doctor not like something so cheap, effective, soothing, and non-toxic? Well, if you are cynical you might say it is because you can cure yourself without paying him(her). No, it is something more serious. He said the problem is that red eyes are an indicator of something going wrong. You could have an infection going on, a foreign body, or even a medical condition that makes your eyes bulge so the lids don't close completely. The redness is a warning sign that something more serious needs attention and you are treating the symptoms not the disease.

 

On a spiritual level, God sends warning signs of a deeper problem in our lives. Moses talks about it in Deuteronomy 28:58,64-67

 If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name—the Lord your God...Then the Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known. ⁶⁵ Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the Lord will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart. ⁶⁶ You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life. ⁶⁷ In the morning you will say, “If only it were evening!” and in the evening, “If only it were morning!”—because of the terror that will fill your hearts...

 

God, through Moses tells the Israelites that if they worship other gods (like we do - money, success, security, significance, relationships, power, etc.) there will be symptoms cropping up from that fatal disease. Some of those symptoms are sleeping problems, restlessness, anxiety, depression, discontentment, irrational fears, etc. Now a lot of us go to doctors to treat these symptoms but are we looking for the root cause of them- a life worshipping things that aren't made to be worshipped? We were made for one purpose - to worship God. Put away the Visine and go to the heart doctor - Jesus- for the cure.