Hmm, I Think That to You I Shall Give Eyes

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By John Piper About Gratitude
Part of the series Taste & See

You are a millionaire. Yes, you are. A millionaire is not a person who has a million dollars in cash, but a person who has something worth a million dollars. What you have is worth more than a million dollars if you won’t sell it for a million dollars. And who of you will sell both your eyes for a million dollars? If not, then you are a millionaire. You have equity worth well over a million dollars. 

Why do people want to get rich when they already have things valued in the millions of dollars? Answer: They don’t meditate on the value of what they have. If you suddenly went blind and stayed blind for a year, and then regained your sight, how would you feel on that first morning, waking up to the light of dawn? You would feel ten times happier than if someone had given you a million dollar check. You would feel the million dollar treasure you carry around every day.

You would look up at the sprayed ceiling and notice the little sparkling pieces and how the light moves from one to the other. You would glance at the opening of the door and touch the good square angles of the corners with your mind. You would look out the window at the poplar branches fattening with the warmth of spring but still as naked as though they were dead. You would see a white cloud--but so much more: an elephant, a marshmallow, a crumpled blanket, Rip van Winkle, Sugar Loaf Mountain, a horse’s head, a barracuda, Martin Luther’s profile--all in a cloud! And then you would see her face, still asleep on the pillow--every curve, every freckle, every line, every hair in the eyebrow, every motion from the quiet breaths.

And you would feel that you are a multi-millionaire! You would say to yourself: Why, there is more beauty and more joy in five minutes of open eyes than all the money in Fort Knox could buy me blind.

O, that God would awaken us! Meditate on the value of what you have! Don’t you want to live life cherishing what you have with the same thrill as if it were taken away in some tragedy and miraculously given back? Well, it was given to you miraculously. Your eyes are a gift which God decided he would like for you to have. It might have been utterly otherwise. For God is free. It is as though you were standing in line to receive some special gift, and he said, “Hmm, I think that to you I shall give eyes. There. How do you like them?”

Glad to see you,

Pastor John

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