To have “vision” in football is not to be able to physically see the field, as that’s a prerequisite for even being on the field.
Good vision is to make better decisions based on a prediction based on the information you gather in real-time.
Good players make plays because they can see more than just what’s happening in front of them. Instead of being reactive, they are responsive. They can anticipate the play before it happens because they have already seen it in their mind’s eye or can feel it happening before it happens. They “know” plays are happening.
Unconsciously, they can feel a misdirection, adjust course, and make the play.
To improve your vision, you can watch the film, study your opponent, or prepare your mind and body to be clear and focused. On game day, you have to be attentive to the game, gathering as much information as possible, allowing you to have this vision. It comes more naturally to some people, but it can certainly be learned and improved.
Luckily, unlike God, humans are capable of changing.
Similarly, God giving us vision to see His glory and live in His kingdom isn’t to be able to see an image of God in the physical realm, a future perfectly crafted for us, or even a fully formed physical structure we can point to.
It’s not going to come from some moment when He exposes His physical entity to us. In fact, there is nothing he isn’t. He is all around us, within us, happening now, at all moments. There is nothing God doesn’t know.
The psalmist says, “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.” (139:1-4)
Our minds won’t allow us to know His kingdom until He knows we’re ready, our hearts are open, and He grants us the capability to know His glory.
Like in football, if coaches don’t have confidence in us to help the team win, without the right technique, the trust of teammates, and the right conditioning, we’ll get ourselves or others injured. Coaches want us to help the team win, score a touchdown, and make big plays, but we have to trust in their guidance and be willing to get hurt. We have to practice, workout, study the playbook, and collaborate with teammates, especially those who don’t have the same desire to win. We need those players, actually.
Similarly, God wants us to WIN and score! That reflects well on Him as a good Father! When we do the work, prepare accordingly, listen to His guidance, lean into His discipline, collaborate with teammates, abide in Him, then we see more clearly! We make more plays! We live in God’s kingdom!
Interestingly, there might be a connection between this vision, God’s kingdom, and psychedelics. A new wave of psychedelic therapy has opened up an ancient realm of healing for a plethora of mental health disorders, PTSD, depression, addiction, etc. Psychedelics are known to temporarily break the “reducing valve”, which allows us to experience the entirety of the universe all in one moment, getting a small glimpse of God firsthand.
Aldous Huxley, in his book Doors of Perception, says:
“Each one of us is potentially Mind at Large. But in so far as we are animals, our business is at all costs to survive. To make biological survival possible, Mind at Large has to be funneled through the reducing valve of the brain and nervous system. What comes out at the other end is a measly trickle of the kind of consciousness which will help us to stay alive on the surface of this particular planet.”
Our minds are attuned to what is necessary. Psychedelics, but more importantly prayer, open our minds to the world of what is possible.
However, Jesus warns us about this in the gospel of John:
John 10:1-2 (NIV):
“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.”
Through Jesus, we see His kingdom and become shepherds of the sheep. God opens the pasture for us to become shepherds of His kingdom. It’s through God’s blessing that we are given the keys to the kingdom any other way, and we are like thieves, stealing what isn’t ours, unaware of what to do with the information.
By embracing His kingdom through Christ and Christ alone, he reveals a changed perspective in our mind’s eye that allows us to see where things are headed, the flow. We see above what is seen physically. We have a vision for what is to come.
We can live in his spiritual kingdom, seeing unseen things while still living on earth.
“I remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.” – Psalm 27:13
“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” – 2 Corinthians 4:17
“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?'” – John 11:25-26
The physical realm is temporary; it’s a blip on the radar. But it’s also our training ground to learn how to live in the kingdom. The spiritual realm is NOW, and our reliance on what is seen prevents and inhibits it.
What is behind the screen is everlasting.
