918) The times I have flown out and back into The Pinetree State (Maine), I am amazed at how many forests there are. Unless I’m flying over Portland, I don’t see many buildings and all that goes along with them. What is easy to forget when viewing my state is that each forest I see is full of individual trees.

Sometimes I view my circumstances in the same limited way. I see only the whole, rather than individual components of it. This is truly a limited ability to “see”.

In Luke 13:10-17, Jesus is trying to get the religious leaders of his day to stop looking at the whole of the law and refusing to see individual people. Jesus heals a woman on the Sabbath and yet, the synagogue leaders ignore the miracle and pound the law.

Do I think that it’s a bad thing to see the whole of the law or theology? No. But when it blinds you to seeing the individuals involved, you are not seeing the complete picture.

Notice the trees!