The Eyes Of Your Heart

Why is it when children are in a car together, they love to start playing around, teasing each other, and distracting their parent who is driving?  When I was young, my brothers were particularly good at this, and they would even begin to start physically swiping at one another. My mother was never a woman to suffer fools, so she would raise her voice and say “Boys, I have eyes in the back of my head. Stop horsing around now or you will regret it if I have to stop this car!”

Being the youngest of three children, I was a bit naïve and quite gullible. I used to wonder “How does my Momma have eyes in the back of her head?  Are they hiding under her hair?”

Fast forward many years later, as I became a mother myself. Like my mother, I also began to develop “eyes in the back of my head” when it came to monitoring my children. But what became even more important to me was to develop what the Apostle Paul referred to as “the eyes of your heart.”

In Ephesians 1:17-18, Paul proclaims, “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better.  I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you.”

What an interesting metaphor the apostle uses in this passage. Why do we need “eyes” in our heart?  What does God want our hearts to see? I believe He wants us to see the hopefulness of His calling in our life. He wants to paint a picture for us so we can visualize what a life following Christ can really look like—and when we can imagine what it looks like, we can then capture a sense of what it would feel like to live in the fulness of God’s peace, joy and hope.  He wants us to experience a life where, despite the rocky circumstances that life may bring, we can depend upon Him. He will be with us and hold us up with His strength and love.

Can you see it? Look with the eyes of your heart.