Straining to see - by Ben Bonython
At the end of 2020, I underwent the all too familiar ritual of getting my eyes tested. My optometrist is very patient because all those green and red light decisions stress me out! Being near sighted, I have worn glasses since I was 11 years old. Before wearing glasses, I remember straining and squinting in the classroom to read the backboard. You see, I never had the brains to sit closer to the front of the class, even when my teacher asked me to move forward….but did I?
July marks the beginning of our major book series. The Book of Acts is a continuation of the Gospel of Luke (both books written by Luke). The first chapter of Acts records Jesus ascending to Heaven. My imagination is always captured by verses 9-11: “After he [Jesus] said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Please imagine this…Jesus was taken from the sight of the disciples, yet they were still straining to locate and see Him. I do not know how long the disciples were searching, but it took the appearance of two angels to encourage them to give up their straining search and move forward in faith and trust.
As a Year 5 kid, I strained to read the blackboard because it seemed easier to me to stay and strain even though I could have moved forward at any time.
In a similar way, in my walk with Jesus, there have been moments when I have stopped walking forward in faith and remained still, straining in my own strength looking for something that has already been given to me. There are times when I have felt like I need to strain to see Jesus. But Jesus has proclaimed that He is already with me.
The Books of Acts reminds me that I do not need to strain to look up, rather to have faith and trust that the Spirit of truth is with me forever, and that He lives in me and works through me (Jn 14:16-17). While Jesus is physically not with us, He fulfilled His promise that He is ‘with us always’ and calls on us to move forward (Acts 1:8). The Book of Acts teaches us that we never need to look up straining to see Christ, rather that we follow Christ by moving forward. The Book of Acts reminds us that the Lord is trustworthy.