Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
7 13 2026

Spiritual Cataracts – Eyes Wide Open… Yet Blind

Have you ever noticed that two people can look at exactly the same thing and see something completely different?

One person sees coincidence. Another sees God.
One sees an interruption. Another sees a divine appointment.
One sees a difficult neighbor. Another sees someone Christ died for.

The difference isn’t eyesight…it’s vision.

I heard Pastor Hal Mayer talk about Saul riding toward Damascus with his eyes wide open, yet he couldn’t see the most important reality in the universe. That got my attention. Eyes wide open, yet completely blind.

Then Jesus did something remarkable. He blinded a man who already couldn’t see.

Have I raised your curiosity? Has that ever happened to you, or someone you know, but you never thought about it quite that way?

Let’s step back for just a moment. Who was Jesus to the Jews and Gentiles of that day?

He wasn’t merely another prophet, and He certainly wasn’t just a great teacher. Paul would soon discover in his blindness who Jesus really was—the eternal Son of God.

John writes, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… Through Him all things were made…” (John 1:1-3).

The One speaking to Saul was the same One who calmed storms, raised the dead, forgave sins, healed the blind, and defeated death. The same Jesus who later declared, “I am the Living One… I hold the keys of death and Hades.” (Revelation 1:18).

No wonder one day every knee will bow. Whether people believe today or not, every person who has ever lived will eventually recognize the name above every name.

Jesus.

Thank God for A/C this summer… but even more, thank God for J.C.—Jesus Christ. I wonder sometimes how many of us appreciate the air conditioning more than the Savior.

As Saul approached Damascus, a light brighter than the sun suddenly surrounded him, and he fell to the ground. Then came the question that changed everything.

“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”

Would it surprise you if a voice from heaven asked you that question? Maybe it doesn’t have to. It’s already been asked. We just don’t always recognize that He’s speaking to us.

Saul answered, “Who are You, Lord?”
Think about that.

He believed in God. He prayed. He memorized Scripture. He was deeply religious. He sincerely believed he was serving God.
Yet he didn’t know Jesus.
Isn’t that still possible today?

Aren’t some of those people sitting beside us every Sunday morning? They know church. They know religion. They know Bible stories. But somehow they have never truly come to know Christ.

Acts tells us, “Though his eyes were open, he could see nothing.”

What an incredible picture of humanity. How can we have such remarkable physical eyesight and yet be
completely blind to the things of eternity?

We don’t see our pride.
We don’t see our unforgiveness…We don’t see our self-reliance… We don’t see the people around us the way God sees them.

Sometimes we don’t even recognize what God is trying to do in our own lives. I wonder if that’s why Paul remained blind for three days. Not simply because he couldn’t physically see, but because God was allowing him to understand the blindness he had been carrying his entire life. Make this personal and think about that with your name in it.

Sometimes God has to stop us before He can open us. Then something happens that has always amazed me and encouraged me too. Jesus could have restored Paul’s sight Himself. Instead, He chose Ananias.

Can you imagine that conversation?

“Lord… You want me to go where? To him? The man who’s been arresting and killing Christians? The man who’s responsible for families being torn apart? The man who wanted people like me dead?” That would be like asking someone today to walk into a Taliban camp and pray for its leader.

Ananias saw Saul’s past….God saw Paul’s future.
How often have we done exactly the same thing?
We see our past… but we haven’t spent enough time in God’s word to see the promises and future He has for us.

And how often have we quietly written someone off.

Too angry.
Too hard.
Too addicted.
Too proud.
Too cynical.
Too far gone.

“But God…”

He says, “Go anyway.”
The truth is some of you may be saying that about yourself.

So, don’t miss this part of the story. God didn’t simply save Paul. He used another believer to help Paul see.
We still need Ananiases.

We need people who pray for us when we can’t pray for ourselves. Our Men’s Courageous Group and Women’s Beautiful Group starts on August 17th. Those are people who encourage us, challenge us, lovingly correct us, and walk beside us while God continues opening our eyes. Who is that Ananiase for you?

Christianity was never intended to be lived one hour on Sunday.

If you’re ever going to know someone,
you eventually have to give up your distance.
The same is true with Jesus.

Years later Paul wrote that he counted everything as loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ…Think about that.

This was the same man who once found his identity in his education, his position, his reputation, and his religious accomplishments. Those things had become spiritual cataracts. They weren’t helping him see God. They were keeping him from seeing Him.

I wonder what our spiritual cataracts are.

Success? Comfort? Politics? Fear? Bitterness? Disappointment? Religion? Maybe even our own opinions? Don’t even get me started about the political divides of division, anger, revenge and verbal assinations in our Christian country today.

Anything that keeps us from seeing Jesus clearly eventually clouds everything else we look at. Maybe our prayer today shouldn’t simply be, “Lord, change my circumstances.”

Maybe it should begin with, “Lord, open the eyes of my heart.” Help me see You.

Help me see people the way You see them…Help me see the purpose You’ve created me for….Help me stop living by natural sight and begin living with spiritual vision.

And Lord… help me see the one person I’ve quietly decided is beyond Your reach…or mine.

Because someone once prayed for Saul….Someone obeyed when it made no sense Someone believed God could write a different ending to his story.

Who is that person in your life?

A son?

A daughter?

A spouse?

A neighbor?

A co-worker?

Someone you’ve almost stopped praying for because you’ve convinced yourself they’ll never change?

Don’t stop.

Paul’s story reminds us that no one is beyond the reach of God’s grace.

The person we think is least likely to come to Christ may become the very person God uses to change countless other lives.

And maybe, just maybe, God isn’t asking you to have all the answers.

Maybe He’s simply asking you to become someone’s Ananias.

Because once Jesus opens our eyes, we never see the world the same way again.

Question: 1. What might be acting as a spiritual cataract in my life, keeping me from seeing Jesus or others clearly?
2. Who have I quietly decided is beyond God’s reach, when He may be asking me to become their Ananias?
3. If Jesus opened my spiritual eyes a little wider today, what is the first thing He would want me to see… about Him, about myself, or about someone else?

“What part of this hit home for you this morning? What are you carrying today that needs prayer? If you’d like, send me a prayer request here. Let’s invite the Holy Spirit in together. (where two are gathered.) You are not walking alone. Just hit reply…
I read every response.”
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