No one ever won a prize for telling his readers to ‘go and look it up for themselves.’ However, space and time prevent me from listing the extremes of wealth that the king of Thailand owns and spends. This is a man who rules over a country where many families are so poor that they sell their children; many of them ending up in the hands of foreign paedophiles. How can a leader, in this day and age, be allowed to live in a ‘La La Land,’ while his most vulnerable citizens live abused lives? Being surrounded by the trinkets of wealth assures that he need not ever see anything else. He sees only what he wants to see.
This is the devil’s expertise. He works overtime to keep us from seeing that which is. He uses distractions to keep us from focusing on He who really matters: Jesus, Saviour of mankind. Every despot that has ever heard the name of Jesus has done all he can to eradicate Jesus’ true influence upon the lives of their citizenry. Notice how communists have forced their people not to worship Jesus, and Catholic dictatorships have forced their people to worship Jesus, but a ‘Jesus’ that enriches the dictator. Sadly, for the people, it always ends in ignorance and poverty.
Fixing our eyes upon the Jesus of the Bible is beholding the answer to all of life’s problems. Bartimaeus fixed his blind eyes upon Jesus as he went by. He wasn’t about to be distracted or dissuaded by the crowd. His faith opened the eyes of his heart to seek sight from Jesus—he got it! The Syrophoenician woman fixed her eyes on Jesus. She wasn’t about to be distracted or dissuaded by the apostles. Her faith opened the eyes of her heart to seek help from Jesus for her daughter—she got it! Fix your eyes upon Jesus and watch God work!
John Staiger
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