New vision

Remember the shadowy world Frodo sees when he puts on the Ring? He sees everything differently. I can relate, but it’s not a ring that causes me to see things with new vision—it’s a tenderized heart.

I see our broken world differently now. I see light and shadow, hurting and haunting. It’s not all dark and depressing like Frodo’s vision. Just new.

Ever since my humbling, I see others differently. I look at them with more compassion. I see desperation and defiance. I see carefully-constructed flimsy shields and a clinging to the shards of shattered ones.

Yesterday, at an intersection in Reno, NV, I gave a woman ten bucks. She looked sheepish. Maybe it was a put-on, but I think I saw a smidge of shame. I hope she uses it to buy food and not feed an addiction. Either way, I can’t make her choose well. Only God can. And it was only ten bucks. I’d just spent much more on a haircut.

People in our Sierra Nevada town talk to me. They tell me stuff about themselves. At first, this surprised me, but now it seems natural. Before God shattered my shield, I insulated myself from intimacy. I’m more like I was as a child—smiling, friendly and safe. I just want to be wise in my vulnerability. Seeing things can be double-edged.

I know that I need wisdom when people tell me about their burdens and struggles. I’m not a counselor. I’m just open to brutal honesty. At times, I think I see through shields.

I see hurting struggling people and our fallen world as shadowy. Life can leave them on the fringes. Naturally, it’s hard for them not to fall through the cracks.

Shadow and light are everywhere. In our little California town 80 miles northwest of Reno, the contrasts are vivid and in macro. Everything’s compacted here. There are pockets of darkness and what I call glimmers of light and joy.

I see light when I walk our dog most mornings. I meet others on the road and we share smiles and nods. They like my dog. And maybe they like me. Who knows?

I see hurried and harried people who seem worried with their troubles.

We’ll all have trouble in life. Sooner or later. Jesus promises it. The most resilient “self-made” people will “go through it.” Jeff Bezos, who built Amazon and owns half the world, will fail to deliver in his life. He will be broken by a broken world. I pray that his breaking will drive him to his knees before a loving and redeeming Savior.

What does Jesus say to his disciples after he drops his trouble bomb? This: “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 ESV) I think of his promise at street level: I’ve beaten this bad ol’ world. It is on its knees before me. Be of good cheer, child.

As God’s adopted son, I often feel like an orphan in this world. I see myself as a reclamation project, a work in progress, a remodel. I’m being finished. I’m spinning on The Potter’s wheel being shaped by the Master who sees everything.

Jesus’ words about this world's trouble encourage me. How can they not? The maker and re-maker of the world is at work. He never leaves his projects undone. Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords, is restoring hearts and minds in a world that needs remaking.

The Reno panhandler can be rescued. The Amazon big-shot can be redeemed. We all need R&R. With the Savior, tears of trouble are inevitably transformed into cries of joy.

See what I mean? God can help you see those around you with better perception and treat them with needful compassion. He is the Lord of every ring and Savior of every soul he chooses.

Remember how Frodo viewed Gollum? At first he was repulsed. Then he saw the hurting and hungry Sméagol slowly emerging as a result of pity. He saw beyond the fear and desperation and haunting and glimpsed a flickering flame in a cold dark heart. He saw hope and a yearning for love and friendship.

Sméagol inadvertently saved Frodo in the end, if you remember. Frodo made the near-fatal choice to keep the Ring for himself and become something far worse than Gollum. When he refused to save the world from the Ring, he nearly enslaved himself.

God knows our frame. He sees our hearts. We're like Sméagol and need of a life-giving Savior. If we follow Christ, we’ll get to a place far better than the Grey Havens—Heaven and Paradise.

Our world is more broken than Middle-earth. We all need rescue and deliverance. Our world’s Sauron disguises himself as a devil whispering on shoulders. He’s a liar and an enslaver; Christ is Truth and a liberator.

Take heart, something far better than The Shire, Rivendell and Lothlórien beckons. Heaven will be infinitely superior to smoke rings, beer and barley and good talks among friends—even if Gandalf and the hobbits were there. I think Tolkien’s friend C.S. Lewis saw it clearly when he described his longing for “the far-off country.”

Our enemy is beaten. Christ is the victor. 

He will create a new Heaven and a new earth and rescue those who will sing songs of joy and feast in their Father’s house. We’ll no longer see darkness and shadow, only light and peace. 

If you’re God’s adopted child, you’ll know Christ and be fully known by him. The shadowy world will be remade. Everything will be light and forever glorious. An eternal wight of glory awaits. We’ll see Jesus as he is and be known by him.

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (I Corinthians 13:12 ESV)