Photo supplied, Intellectual Reserve

I remember when I first realized I had problems with my eyesight. I was in the third grade. My seat was in the back of the classroom and I was struggling to see what was written on the board. So, the teacher moved me to the front of the classroom. I don’t know if I really liked being so close to the teacher, but I did like that the desk he had chosen for me to occupy was next to a girl who I liked. I don’t think the boy who I was replacing in that seat was quite so thrilled. I still remember the look he gave me as we crossed paths as I went to take the seat that was previously his.

Vision — particularly, spiritual vision — was the theme of an address by Elder Massimo De Feo of the Seventy in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the general conference of the church in April. Spiritual vision was on Elder De Feo’s mind recently as he dealt with a problem related to his physical vision, a situation that reminded him of an important truth.

“The gospel is not a way to avoid challenges and problems but a solution to increase our faith and learn how to deal with them,” he said.

Elder De Feo’s challenge regarding his physical vision was pretty serious. His sight suddenly “became blurry, dark and wavy” one day when he was walking.

“I was scared,” Elder De Feo acknowledged. “Then the doctors told me, ‘If you don’t begin treatment immediately, you may lose your sight even in a matter of weeks.’ I was even more scared.

Ryan Comer, Standard-Examiner

“And then they said, ‘You need intravitreal injections — injections right in the eye, wide-open eye — every four weeks for the rest of your life.’

“That was an uncomfortable wake-up call.

“Then a reflection came in the form of a question. I asked myself, ‘OK! My physical sight is not good, but what about my spiritual vision? Do I need any treatment there? And what does it mean to have a clear spiritual vision?'”

Putting myself in Elder De Feo’s position, I’d like to think I would have been able to take such a frightening situation and use it to learn a spiritual lesson, but I don’t know if I would have. Nevertheless, I know that’s how Heavenly Father wants all of us to respond to our trials.

“Every trial and experience you have passed through is necessary for your salvation,” said Brigham Young, second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Thought of from that perspective, we don’t need to be weighed down by our trials. Instead, we should think of how we can use them to improve spiritually. Do we have the strength and ability to avoid becoming crippled by self-pity and discouragement during difficult trials and actually engage in humble introspection? As Elder De Feo showed, it is possible, and when we do, the lessons can be extremely beneficial.

Elder De Feo’s attention to spiritual vision brought to his mind a story from the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament about a blind man named Bartimaeus. From that story, Elder De Feo taught three principles about how to have clear spiritual vision.

Said Elder De Feo: “The scripture says, ‘And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.’ (Mark 10:47)

“Technically, in the eyes of many, Jesus was just the son of Joseph, so why did Bartimaeus call him ‘Son of David’? Simply because he recognized that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, who was prophesied to be born as a descendant of David. (Isaiah 11:1; Jeremiah 23:5; Matthew 21:9)

“It is interesting that this blind man, who didn’t have physical sight, recognized Jesus. He saw spiritually what he couldn’t see physically, while many others could see Jesus physically but were totally blind spiritually.”

This reminds me of what Jesus said to certain Pharisees who challenged him after he healed a man who had been born blind.

“Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?

“He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?

“And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.

“And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.

“And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

“And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?

“Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.” (John 9:35-41)

Jesus explained that those who didn’t know who he was were “blind” and “should have no sin,” but that those who could see — because there was enough evidence for them that they should have known who he was — would be accountable for their behavior. Because the Pharisees were among those able to see, their “sin remaineth.” They chose to be blind spiritually because despite all the evidence they witnessed, they refused to accept Jesus as the son of God.

Returning to the story about Bartimaeus, Elder De Feo continued:

“From this story we learn more about clear spiritual vision.

“We read, ‘And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.’ (Mark 10:48)

“All around him were telling him to be quiet, but he cried out even more because he knew who Jesus really was. He ignored those voices and screamed even louder.

“He acted instead of being acted upon. Despite his limited circumstances, he used his faith to go beyond his limitations.

“So, the first principle we learn is we keep a clear spiritual vision when we focus on Jesus Christ and stay true to what we know to be true.”

Speaking more on the principle, Elder De Feo said:

“Brothers and sisters, to keep our spiritual sight intact, we need to decide not to listen to the voices of the world around us. In this confusing and confused world, we must stay faithful to what we know, faithful to our covenants, faithful in keeping the commandments and reaffirm our beliefs even stronger, like this man did. We need to cry even louder our testimony of the Lord to the world. This man knew Jesus, stayed faithful to what he believed and was not distracted by the voices around him.

“There are many voices today trying to lower our voices as disciples of Jesus Christ. The voices of the world are trying to silence us, but that’s exactly why we must declare our testimony of the savior louder and stronger. Among all the voices of the world, the Lord is counting on me and you to declare our testimonies, to raise our voice and to become his voice. If we don’t do it, who will testify of Jesus Christ? Who will speak his name and declare his divine mission?

“We have a spiritual charge that comes from our knowledge of Jesus Christ.”

No doubt, this can be extremely difficult in the type of world we live in where expressions of faith in Jesus Christ are often mocked. It’s easy to make excuses and exempt ourselves because we decide either our personal situation is unique enough to justify it or that God really won’t care that much. If anyone had a justification for not publicly expressing his faith in Jesus, it would have been Bartimaeus because he was blind. Yet, he chose to speak up. Furthermore, he refused to allow himself to be shouted down. I don’t know about you, but when I see faith and courage like that, I don’t know how I could ever justify doing anything less.

Transitioning to the second step in having clear spiritual vision, Elder De Feo continued:

“But what did Bartimaeus do after that?

“At the Lord’s command to rise, he acted again in faith.

“The scripture says, ‘And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.’ (Mark 10:50)

“This humble and faithful man understood that he could rise to a better life at Jesus’s command. He knew that he was better than his circumstances, and the very first thing he did when he heard Jesus calling him was to throw away his beggar’s coat.

“Again he acted instead of being acted upon.

“He might have thought, ‘I don’t need this anymore now that Jesus has come into my life. This is a new day. I’m done with this life of misery. With Jesus I can start a new life of happiness and joy in him, with him and through him. And I don’t care what the world thinks of me. Jesus is calling me, and he will help me live a new life.’

“What a remarkable change!

“As he threw away his beggar’s coat, he got rid of all excuses.

“And this is a second principle: We keep a clear spiritual vision when we leave the natural man behind, repent and begin a new life in Christ.

“The way to do it is by making and keeping covenants to rise to a better life through Jesus Christ.

“As long as we make excuses to feel sorry for ourselves, sorry for our circumstances and problems and sorry for all the bad things happening in our lives and even all the bad people who we think make us unhappy, we keep the beggar’s coat on our shoulders. It is true that at times people, consciously or not, hurt us. But we need to decide to act with faith in Christ by removing the mental and emotional coat that we might still wear to hide excuses or sin and throw it away, knowing that he can and will heal us.

“There is never a good excuse to say, ‘I am the way I am because of some unfortunate and unpleasant circumstances. And I cannot change, and I am justified.’

“When we think that way, we decide to be acted upon.

“We keep the beggar’s coat.

“Acting in faith means to rely on our savior, believing that through his atonement, we can rise above everything at his command.”

As I ponder those words, I can immediately think of a number of things I hold onto in my life that represent the beggar’s coat. These can be habits or personality traits. As I ask myself why I hold onto the beggar’s coat, I think that it’s just what I’m used to. It’s grown comfortable to me. But our beggar’s coats are a reflection of who we desire to be. If we choose to hold onto the beggar’s coat rather than casting it aside, we’re effectively saying that we desire to be the way that we are and that we don’t want to change. Or we simply don’t have the faith that we can change. This makes Bartimaeus’ story so much more impressive. Surely, he knew the comfort of the beggar’s coat, yet he just threw it aside like he had a perfect knowledge that he was never going to need or want it again. He knew he had Jesus and that was infinitely more helpful than his coat. I suppose it boils down to our testimony in Jesus Christ. Do we really believe that he can provide infinitely more for us than whatever our beggar’s coats provide? The greater our conviction of that, the easier it will be to not even want the beggar’s coat. We will recognize that though we once thought it was helpful, it’s actually not nearly as helpful as what is possible through Jesus, and ultimately, the beggar’s coat is pretty unfulfilling.

Continued Elder De Feo:

“The third principle is in the last four words: ‘[he] came to Jesus.’

“How could he go to Jesus since he was blind? The only way was to walk toward Jesus by hearing his voice.

“And this is a third principle: We keep a clear spiritual vision when we hear the voice of the Lord and allow him to guide us.

“Just as this man raised his voice over the voices around him, he was able to listen to the voice of the Lord in the middle of all other voices.

“This is the same faith that allowed Peter to walk on water as long as he kept his spiritual focus on the Lord and was not distracted by the winds around him.”

It strikes me that in order to be guided by the Lord, we have to first hear his voice. Are we putting ourselves in a position to hear the voice of the Lord? I believe we can all have experiences where we hear the voice of the Lord. What happens if we hear a distant voice and then walk to it? The voice gets louder. As we follow the voice of the Lord when we hear it, it will grow louder. We will be able to recognize it more easily. Suddenly, whereas before when it seemed difficult to discern the voice over the noise of the world and a plethora of other thoughts, we will suddenly be able to hear it much more clearly. I know this is true because this is how it’s been in my life. As I have followed the voice of the Lord, I have heard it more easily and clearly. It has become louder to me. Interestingly, the clearer the voice of the Lord is to me, the clearer the voice of Satan is to me, and there is a stark difference between the two voices. Depending on the thoughts and impressions that I have, I know exactly who they are coming from.

Wrapping up the story, Elder De Feo said:

“Then the story of this blind man ends with the words ‘he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.’ (Mark 10:52)

“One of the most important lessons in this story is that this man exercised true faith in Jesus Christ and received a miracle because he asked with real intent, the real intent to follow him.

“And this is the ultimate reason for the blessings we receive in our lives, which is to follow Jesus Christ. It is about recognizing him, making and keeping covenants with God because of him, changing our very nature through him and enduring to the end by following him.

“For me, keeping a clear spiritual vision is all about focusing on Jesus Christ.”

He concluded:

“So is my spiritual sight clear as I get my eye injections? Well, who am I to say? But I am grateful for what I see.

“I clearly see the hand of the Lord in this sacred work and in my life.

“I see the faith of many wherever I go who strengthen my own faith.

“I see angels all around me.

“I see the faith of many who don’t see the Lord physically but recognize him spiritually, because they know him intimately.

“I testify that this gospel is the answer for everything, because Jesus Christ is the answer for everyone. I am grateful for what I can see as I follow my savior.

“I promise that as we hear the voice of the Lord and allow him to guide us on the savior’s covenant path, we will be blessed with clear vision, spiritual understanding and peace of heart and mind throughout our lives.

“May we cry our testimony of him louder than the voices around us in a world that needs to hear more of Jesus Christ and not less. May we remove the beggar’s coat that we might still wear and rise above the world to a better life in and through Christ. May we get rid of all excuses not to follow Jesus Christ and find all good reasons to follow him as we hear his voice.”

Contact Ryan Comer at rcomer@standard.net. Follow him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rbcomer8388.

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