Which Lens Are You Using

Have you ever felt like you were drowning in your problems? You tried to solve the problems, but they just seemed to grow bigger? Did you know that the lens you use can affect the way you see the problems and determine how you respond and function in life?! Allow me to explain…

Lenses can be found in many visual equipment such as cameras, microscopes, binoculars and even telescopes. They refer to a piece of transparent glass that is used to converge or diverge light rays through refraction (bending of light). There are commonly two types of lenses – concave and convex. Concave lenses diverge (deviate, scatter) light and can produce virtual images, whereas convex lenses converge (concentrate) light to a point and can produce real images. Convex lenses also produce images that are clearer than concave lenses. Like how these physical lenses provide us with differing images so too our personal lenses provide us with differing views, i.e., perspectives. The way in which we view the trials and struggles we face indicates the lens that we used to see them, which can affect our actions, and impact our future.

‘Your input determines your outlook. Your outlook determines your output, and your output determines your future.’

– Zig Ziglar

When we focus on the problem, we see only the problem. Sometimes we make the problem bigger than it truly is; we produce a virtual image. Our vision is distorted, and we find ourselves scrambling for a solution, like how the concave lens operates. Like the scattered light, we are searching for answers that seem to elude us. We are searching for solid ground. We become consumed by our hardship that we fail to see the real picture. We fail to see that God is in our midst and He is the one with the solutions.

In the book of Numbers, chapter 13, twelve (12) men were sent out to explore Canaan (the Promised Land). On return to their camp, the men reported that the land was fruitful, but most felt that they were not equipped or strong enough to take the land from its habitants as God had initially promised. The unbelieving men used their concave lens that is they were unable to see a clear picture of the situation and only saw it as insurmountable even though God was in the midst. The few that used their convex lens saw beyond the problem and were rewarded. They saw beyond what was in their faces and believed in what was said. How many times have we allowed difficulty to set us off-course? How many times have we seen difficulties as curses, rather than blessings? Do we acknowledge God’s presence amid difficulties and that He can allow us to rise above any obstacle that we see?

Imagine you are driving home, and your car breaks down, right before you get on the highway. How would you react? Would your first response be ‘why me’? Would you throw your hands up in anger or defeat? Would you carry that anger home and affect others? Or would you see the blessing in the problem? Would you say thank you because you were not on the highway? Would you be calm and rest in the word of Romans 8:28? Our response is based on the lens we use. What we see will affect what we do. What we do will impact our tomorrow. The one who acts in anger will spread anger and negatively impact others, even possibly hindering any help. The one who acts calmly will attract the good in others. In Matthew 6:22-23, it speaks of how important guarding our eyes is, for what and how we see can affect us.

The lens we use can truly impact not only our present, but also our future. So, my question to you today is, which lens are you using?