Change can be hard sometimes. We just get used to the way we have always done things. Recently, I had LASIK eye surgery to correct my distance vision. It’s a good thing and one that will leave me free from the expense of contacts, solutions, and glasses for years to come. On the day of the surgery, the doctor’s order with medication was a four-hour nap. As soon as I woke up, I reached for my glasses like I always do. Then I had the thought, “That’s not your prescription anymore.” The idea felt significant to me, like when you’re reading the Bible and words start to jump off the page. I leaned into them, and I felt the Lord shared an analogy: salvation is like getting LASIK eye surgery.
The World’s Prescription
A prescription is an official order by an expert in the field to dispense medication, devices, or therapy for someone under his/her care. It involves dosage and usage instructions and is designed to correct a problem, manage symptoms, or help regulate body systems.
Before salvation, WE are the experts in our own lives. We determine what issues or problems we have and “self-medicate” for the ills and issues of life. Some take drugs or alcohol to numb the pain. Some watch pornography or sleep with other people to feel something other than numbness. Others eat sweets, escape with video games, or smoke to soothe the stress and anxiety of life. Even good habits like exercise, hobbies, and collections are ways that people distract themselves from life’s troubles. But none of these things ever lasts past their use. The moment we stop actively doing them, the emptiness returns, a gnawing feeling that we need more and more, but nothing will ever be enough to fill the space that only God can fill.
It’s the same with glasses and contacts. The doctor gives you just the lenses you need to correct your vision, and they help you navigate the world. Of course, they only work while you have them on. Once you take them off, you’re stuck with the same poor eyesight you had before you went to the eye doctor.
God’s LASIK Surgery
LASIK, on the other hand, involves permanently reshaping the cornea with a laser. Once the initial healing period is complete, most patients will see 20/20 distance vision without corrective lenses. That means that the problem is fixed from the inside. Even if our instinct is to grab for our glasses as we have always done, they would only distort our vision now, not enhance it.
After salvation, God makes us a new creation. He doesn’t just fill us with His Holy Spirit as we are, but He changes our very nature. Like reshaping the eye, He makes us function in a new way. When we face the troubles of life, our muscle memory may still be very strong. We may still feel compelled to reach for the things that got us through before. But those habits and fixes that used to provide us with distraction, comfort, and escape don’t work the same on the new us as they did on the old us.
After salvation, God fills our God-shaped hole. Cramming other things in there just displaces God. Share on XI don’t Need Glasses Anymore
The funny thing is that when I reach for my glasses, within a moment I remember that I don’t need them anymore. I see perfectly well without them, and wearing them now would only hurt my ability to see, not help it. I think so many times when we find ourselves reaching for the things of this world to balm the hurts of life, if we would just stop for a moment, we would realize that Jesus provides everything we need.
Salvation is Like LASIK Eye Surgery
Like glasses or contacts provide sight while in use before salvation, the world may have provided temporary relief for the hurts and stresses of life. LASIK, on the other hand, is like salvation. It changes us from the inside, so we no longer require anything external to meet our needs. Whether we were saved yesterday or years ago, we may still be holding on to some worldly remedies. It’s time for us to remember that these things aren’t our prescription anymore. Our Great Physician has provided a new and better way.
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