What Are You Looking At? Open Your Spiritual Eyes

Introduction

The question fits in five words : what are you looking at? Have your eyes fixed themselves upward, in the clouds, watching for mystical signs? Or are they turned to where Jesus keeps working, on your ground, in your week, at the door of your inner temple? The message starts from the Ascension scene in Acts 1:6-11, moves through the temple gate with Peter and John in Acts 3, lingers on the man born blind in John 9, and closes with the love chapter of 1 Corinthians 13 and the call of Jeremiah 7. The thread running through it all is simple : drop the mysticism, open the eyes of your heart, walk by faith.

Article outline

1. Don't stay stuck staring at the sky

After the resurrection, the disciples ask the old question : "Lord, is it at this time that you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" Jesus redirects them : "It isn't for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within his own authority. But you will receive power... and you will be witnesses to me" (Acts 1:7-8). Then he rises, a cloud hides him, and the disciples are left standing there, eyes fixed on the sky.

Two men dressed in white correct them : "You men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky?" (Acts 1:11). In other words: bring your gaze back down. Your ministry is on earth. Jesus performed miracles while he was here, and he keeps performing them today. His parables talk about the kingdom, about people's lives, about wheat, yeast, a house built on rock. They're rooted in the ground. Stay rooted, too, in what the Lord has entrusted to you here, right where he's placed you.

Don't wander off into a vague mysticism that has you dreaming about clouds. The promise is clear : the Holy Spirit will give you power, and you will be his witness. Not more, but not less either.

2. The power you carry isn't money

Shortly after this scene, Peter and John go up to the temple at the hour of prayer. At the gate called "Beautiful," they meet a paralyzed man begging. Peter tells him : "I have no silver or gold, but what I have, that I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk" (Acts 3:6).

The disciples had received the power promised in Acts 1:8. And that power produces a concrete miracle for a man who needed it more than anything. The same movement applies to you : if you have received the Holy Spirit, you carry something more precious than money. Don't despise it. Don't save it for later. Wherever your feet are standing, there's a gate, there's a person, there's a need. Look down, not just up.

3. The man born blind and the mud on his eyes

The heart of the message is the story in John 9. A man is blind from birth. The disciples ask the trap question : "Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus refuses the false choice : "Neither did this man sin, nor his parents, but that the works of God might be revealed in him" (John 9:3). Sometimes we go looking for someone to blame right where God is preparing a work.

Then comes the strange scene : Jesus spits on the ground, makes mud with his saliva, spreads the mud on the man's eyes, and tells him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. Humanly speaking, this method makes no sense at all. It's about the worst thing you could put on sick eyes. And Jesus doesn't even attach an explicit promise of healing to it. He simply says : "Go, wash."

How did this man make it to the pool? He saw nothing. He walked in the dark, maybe with someone leading him. Faith, sometimes, means walking in the dark on Jesus' word alone. Jesus, the Son of God, was right there performing a miracle, and many around him didn't even come close. This man doesn't see with the eyes of his body, but the eyes of his heart are already open: he believes, he obeys, he goes.

4. When the miracle puts you in front of the religious crowd

What follows in the chapter matters as much as the miracle itself. The healed man is called before the religious leaders, who question him : "How did he heal you?" The miracle was so great that he doesn't back down. He doesn't reach for a technical explanation; he holds on to his faith. Scripture is clear that his parents, for their part, were afraid of the religious leaders and refused to answer for him (cf. John 9:18-23).

Sometimes a miracle puts you at odds with the religious people around you, with those who prefer the system to real life. Don't back down. In the end, Jesus himself goes looking for this man and reveals himself to him : "Do you believe in the Son of God? ... You have both seen him, and it is he who speaks with you." (John 9:35-37). That's striking: very rarely does Jesus reveal himself this directly in the Gospels. After the miracle comes the personal encounter, face to face.

5. Fleshly eyes or spiritual eyes?

The preacher's conclusion circles back to the question in the title. What are you looking at? With which eyes? Fleshly eyes see circumstances, problems, darkness. Spiritual eyes see what comes from God right in the middle of all of it. The miracle of the man born blind is possible for you and for me : our eyes can be opened.

He closes with the love chapter of 1 Corinthians 13 : "Love is patient and is kind... bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." It's this love that fills your life, opens the eyes of your heart, and makes you able to present Jesus to the world you live in. A time of rebuilding, a time of freedom, a time when the culture of Jesus enters you and brings a new kind of liberty.

6. Improve your ways, and put an end to idolatry

The message closes with Jeremiah 7. The prophet stands at the gate of the temple and proclaims the word of the Lord of Hosts : "Amend your ways and your doings... if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor; if you don't oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, and don't shed innocent blood... and don't walk after other gods to your own hurt... then I will cause you to dwell in this place." And the sharp counterpoint : "You trust in lying words, that can't profit."

Opening the eyes of your heart also means seeing whatever in your life belongs to idolatry or to the world's contamination, and setting it aside. Ask the Lord for strength and discernment. Walk to a new rhythm. Spend time with him every day through the Bible. Let the culture of Jesus fill your own. That's how the promise is fulfilled : you become his witness, right here, on your own ground.

Key takeaways

• Your ministry is down here, not up in the clouds. Like the men of Galilee, stop staring at the sky. Receive the power and serve right where you are (Acts 1:8-11).
• What you carry is worth more than money. "I have no silver or gold... get up and walk" (Acts 3:6). The Holy Spirit works through your ordinary hands.
• Faith obeys before it sees. The man born blind goes to the pool of Siloam without an explicit promise. He believes first, he sees after (John 9).
• Don't back down under questioning. After the miracle often comes the pushback. Stand firm, like this man in front of the religious leaders.
• Opening the eyes of your heart also means giving up idolatry. Jeremiah 7 reminds us that no religious words can replace justice, mercy, and a life aligned with God.

Personal application

1. Where have your eyes been fixed this week : on vague, distant questions, or on what God is asking you to do today?
2. Who, at your own temple gate, is waiting for you to bring them something more than money?
3. Is there a command of Jesus you're only half obeying because you don't yet understand where it's leading you? What would it take to head "to the pool" without waiting for a written promise first?
4. What kind of looks, what "religious" fears hold you back from simply telling what God has done for you?
5. What area of your life is pushing you to "trust in lying words" (Jeremiah 7:8) instead of aligning your ways with God's?

Verses cited

• Acts 1:6-11 · The Ascension and the question from the men dressed in white.
• Acts 1:8 · "You will receive power... you will be witnesses to me."
• Acts 3:1-8 · Peter, John, and the crippled man at the "Beautiful" gate.
• John 9 · The man born blind, the mud, the pool of Siloam, the revelation of the Son of God.
• 1 Corinthians 13 · The hymn to love.
• Jeremiah 7 · Amending your ways, rejecting idolatry and lying words.

FAQ

What does it mean to look with spiritual eyes?

Looking with spiritual eyes doesn't mean seeing another world : it means seeing this world the way Jesus sees it. Recognizing his works, his concrete calls, his miracles hidden in everyday life. It also means seeing in yourself what needs to change (idolatry, fear, bitterness), and leaving it at the door.

Why do the angels correct the disciples at the moment of the ascension?

Because the disciples stayed frozen, gazing at the sky after Jesus disappeared (Acts 1:10-11). The two men dressed in white remind them that Jesus will return, but that until then, their mission isn't to speculate: it's to be his witnesses on earth through the power of the Holy Spirit.

How do you walk by faith when you can't see anything?

The man born blind in John 9 is the model : Jesus doesn't even promise him he'll be healed by washing. He simply says : "Go, wash." The man obeys in the dark, without seeing. Faith isn't first about sight ; it's an obedience that takes one more step on Jesus' word, and the seeing comes after.