Coffee Stains: Snake Eyes

Mr. Spock’s pointed ears perked slightly as he flashed a quizzical look at Captain Kirk, standing next to him, phaser drawn. ‘Captain?”

Spock questioned. ‘Just hold steady Spock. We don’t know what this is.” The weird creature that had materialized on the flight deck of the starship didn’t remind them of anything they had ever seen in their long years of space exploration. Squat and husky, he had a heavy coat of fur, legs like a man but his head resembled that of a buffalo. Heavy horns turned downward over each of his ears. What struck the two friends were his eyes. The creature had extendable eyes that slid out of his head like long snakes, then turned to looked in all directions. He eyed Kirk and Spock curiously, then without moving his head his eyes began to bend in all directions. When they bent back and he saw himself, he started and shrieked, then his suspended eyes began moved closer to get a better look. Old Scotty had beamed up a strange creature. Eyes like that might come in handy though. For instance, who is the only person you know who has never seen your face? It’s you! You may have seen your reflection in the mirror but even that is backward. If you’ve seen your own face you’ve got some strange eyes. Wouldn’t it be great if we all had peepers that protruded like our alien buddy and we could see in every direction? No.

Extendable Eyes

We Christians sometimes live as if we had extendable eyes. Our focus is constantly on our needs, our sins, our hurts, our desires, our vision, our plans, our ”We have a hard time seeing the rest of the world because we are constantly using a magnifying glass to look at ourselves in detail. ‘Oh, is that a pimple? No! And there, that spot? Maybe cancer? Look at all those gray hairs, even the nose hair is getting gray! You could use a shave old buddy. And that wrinkle! I wonder if it’s a sin to get a face-lift?”

The Lord Jesus wasn’t like that. He didn’t seem to worry too much about Himself but He was always on the lookout for people that His Father wanted to touch. Once when Jesus and His disciples really needed a rest, they thought they would slip off to a quiet place on the other side the lake for a little R & R. But someone spotted Him and when they got to the rest get-away there was a huge crowd waiting on Him. I would have been m.a.d.! How would you feel if you arrived at your vacation spot and there was your boss waiting for you with a suitcase full of work ? But Jesus, when He saw that large crowd, ‘”He had compassion on them.” (Mark 6:32). He taught them and fed them without complaining because His heart went out to them when he felt their needs.

Another time he passed near a blind man and ‘saw” him (John 9:1). How many times had people passed near this hurting man? They saw him but they didn’t ‘see” him. Jesus saw past the ordinary to a heart that longed for healing, a heart open and hungry for God’s work. He stopped in his tracks and healed him. Do you want to be miserable? Spend your days thinking about your problems, your sins, your worries, your dreams, you, you, you! Do you want to be fulfilled? Lift up your eyes and see the Lord and be filled with His power. Look up and see the needs of those around you. With the power that God gave you go to these people and begin to make a change in their lives. It will revolutionize you. Introspection is necessary and when our eyes look deeply into our souls by the Spirit’s help we can make needed changes. But when we constantly look at ourselves we become like the legendary Narcissus who fell in love with his own image! Lord, give us eyes that see the needs of others, a heart that powerfully feels that need, and feet that run to help that person in need.