Ephesians 1:18
…16 I [Paul] do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you….
In the summer of 1986, in the sleepy little town in the upstate of South Carolina where I was raised, my uncle asked me if I wanted to learn how to drive. You can imagine the excitement of a twelve-year-old, far from the legal age of fifteen, getting behind the wheel of his truck. I remember that old truck like yesterday—a shiny two-tone red and white Ford with chrome everything and 4-speed on the column. That truck was what he taught me how to drive on a no-car backroad out in the Sharon community. He pulled the seat up so my legs could reach the clutch, gas, and brake. After a few attempts of letting the clutch out, which was not too hard because I had driven motorcycles, ATVs, and farm tractors before; we were on our way. The biggest lesson learned that day, which was different from driving the other things mentioned above, was him telling me to look out ahead at a target to keep the truck between the lines. I wanted to look over the hood, and that caused me to swerve too much. “Look out ahead,” he said, “and the truck will go where you look.”
That lesson is not much different from life in general. When one notes the success of well-known businesspersons like Warren Buffett and Elon Musk, athletes like Tiger Woods and Michael Phelps, or entertainers like Taylor Swift and Johnny Depp; life coaches such as Dale Carnegie, Cal Newport, and Steven Covey will tell you they all have one thing in common, focus. They know the goal and focus on it, breaking it down into its components and mapping out how to reach it.
Take Tiger Woods, for example; he does focus on every aspect of his swing to make his muscle memory exact with every golf club, from the driver to the putter; but that is not all he does. He spends time in physical training to keep his body in shape. He studies the golf course he will play and knows yardages, hills, and hazards from every vantage point he can think he might find himself. And he knows his opponents. He knows what he is up against when he plays(ed) David Duval, Phil Mickelson, or anyone else.[1] Warren Buffett does know his stuff with investments,[2] and Taylor Swift has almost single-handedly changed the music industry[3].
Emily Balcetis and David Dunning recently researched how life focus plays a part in reaching goals. They termed life focus “the mind’s eye” and goals “wishful thinking.” Nevertheless, their hypothesis is this, “There exist some indirect hints that the motives underlying wishful thinking have an impact on visual perception. Recent work focusing on more biologically oriented motivational states shows that they influence the perception of visual stimuli.”[4] In other words, the perception of what you see influences what goals you accomplish. However, it works the other way, too. The influences in your life motivate you to see the goal ahead.
The Bible also tells us that “seeing” and “goals” are essential. Although an aspect of our being as created in the imago Dei is to be “creators,” i.e., musicians, construction workers, scientists, or whatever vocation that makes you you; the “seeing” is more than earthly accomplishments and the “goal” is more than worldly ends.
In our passage, Paul prays for the Ephesian church that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you. First, we must understand that this is only a portion of an extensive sentence. However, there is a lot packed in this portion, nonetheless. Paul does not speak of the eyes with which we usually see. They are not the eyes in the sockets of our heads. Instead, he prays that we will see with the “eyes of your hearts.” Proper understanding of spiritual truth depends not on having a keen intellect, motivation, or indirect influence but on a tender heart! Paul is using a figure of speech to give us a beautiful picture of a spiritual truth: the heart, the inner man, including the emotion and will, the whole self, a person’s inward being has eyes that look out toward God and all the spiritual blessings that have their source and supply in His Beloved Son.
Second, the goals of believers are not the likes of the prize of a gold medal or a significant return on the appropriate investment. Instead, it is the “hope to which he has called you.” There is a lot I can talk about concerning this hope, but for this post, the “hope” is the assurance that we are Christ’s possession (John 10:27-28). It is not an abstract concept. It is the glorification, the final “stage” of our ordo salutis, the order of salvation. It is hearing well done good and faithful servant (Matt. 25:23). It is the inheritance we receive with Christ (Rom. 8:17). It is sure of Jesus’s Second Coming (Rev. 22:12). It is the prize that we strive to obtain as we run this race (1 Cor. 9:24).
Dear believer, there is a goal for our lives, but many of you think it is something other than what is most important. Your life focus is an earthly, carnal focus. It is about self-gratification, a life of ease, and having minimal conflict. You see with fleshly eyes where your focus is on the now, not the “eyes of the heart” towards the eternal hope ahead. You are too busy looking over the hood, swerving into both sides of the ditches, and you know it because you grip that steering wheel tighter. You give it that much more effort, and you tell yourself, “I’m not going to hit that ditch again,” then BLAM, you knock the right headlight out, embed grass into the grill, crush the side panel, and you plow on ahead to the next ditch. Paul is teaching us in this passage that we do not have to swerve on this road God has placed us. Because of Christ, God gave us the Holy Spirit to enlighten us, to turn on the headlights so that our heart’s eyes can look straight ahead and focus on Christ. Yes, we must practice the components of sanctification like worship, bearing our crosses, the means of grace, working out our salvation, living as sacrifices, one anothering, bearing the fruit of the Spirit, being godly spouses, parents, and children, etc., but He is the prize. Focus on Him with the eyes of your heart. Run to Him. He will keep your life between the ditches.
[1] Peter Morrice, “Tiger Woods’ New ‘My Game’ Series Offers Exclusive Look at His Preparation, Strategy and Swing Technique,” Golf Digest Online (Golf Digest: August 20, 2019). Accessed on August 17, 2022, at 11:07 AM. https://www.golfdigest.com/story/tiger-woods-new-my-game-series-offers-exclusive-look-at-his-preparation-strategy-and-swing-technique.
[2] Bill Gates, “What I Learned from Warren Buffett,” Harvard Business Review Online (From the Magazine January-February 1996). Accessed on August 17, 2022, at 10:55 AM. https://hbr.org/1996/01/what-i-learned-from-warren-buffett.
[3] “Taylor Swift’s Push to Change Music Ownership,” The Journal, Hosted by Kate Linebaugh and Ryan Knutson (WSJ Podcast: November 16, 2021, 4:56:00 PM). Accessed on August 17, 2022, at 11:00 AM. https://www.wsj.com/podcasts/the-journal/taylor-swift-push-to-change-music-ownership/5a1ef3c5-c669-4ebd-95a1-d52dfee1ca23.
[4] Emily Balcetis and David Dunning, “See What You Want to See: Motivational Influences on Visual Perception,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 91, no.4 (2006):613, https://www.chicagocdr.org/papers/dunning.pdf. Accessed on August 17, 2022, 4:14 PM.
Andrews PCA 