Wayne Weekly “Clearly…Out of Focus”
Written by Teddy on October 4, 2016
This morning I was driving into work through fog covered hills and valleys. I saw a hazy morning sun just breaking through the fog, took my usual turn heading upwards on Onondaga Hill, and soon found the fog was gone and what was visible was a blue sky covered with what I describe as “out of focus clouds”.
If you have ever seen that artist on public television, The Joy of Painting with the late Bob Ross (he passed away back in 1995), then you are familiar with how mesmerizing Mr. Ross was. It was not only his incredible painting that mesmerized, but Bob’s demeanor as his soothing voice and gentle movements seemed to weave him into the natural scenery of his paintings. The brush projected artistic expression, a conduit of the artist himself.
I drove admiring the “blurry clouds” that overlapped each other and looking like elongated stretched out cotton balls with muted edges.
Some things “out of focus” are simply beautiful…but some things are not.
I heard a news report this very same morning that some politicians were talking religion, siting memberships in a church, calling themselves Christians. I can’t judge a person’s heart to be sure, but if the Jesus that I love and serve has left us a Book that declared how we should live and what is good and what is evil…then somebody is seeing God’s revelation, His written holy, unchangeable and uncompromising Word, drastically “out of focus”. It might be that the recognition of the Scriptures may be in sight, but the truth is blurred to the viewer, and even hidden from their sight due to their unwillingness to accept the truth.
Harsh words that are clear and crisp, maybe, but out of focus truth is un-clear and dulls the senses.
So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you’ll see it yet! Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it. Philippians 3:15-16
