Close your eyes and see …

“Close your eyes and see” is the tantalizing catch phrase for “Opaque,” a new kind of eatery with locations in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

Closing your eyes heightens sensations, but really isn’t necessary considering the niche that Opaque fills is an opportunity for diners to eat in the dark.

Pitch-black kind of dark.

The experience is especially a draw to “foodies” and daters, who say the sense of taste and texture are heightened in the dark, and couples on a date focus on personality instead of physical appearance. Since we tend to first “eat with our eyes,” and make several conclusions about people based on what they look like, having a night out with someone over dinner — in total darkness — changes how you assess both the food and the company.

Part of the concept behind Opaque is that sometimes the experience can be richer when you aren’t always going by visuals.

Jesus once said something similar. We read in John 20:29, “Then Jesus told him, ‘You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.'”

We tend to draw our perceptions about Jesus Christ from the things we can see, and the “concrete” aspects of our relationship with Him. Yet, the experience can be richer when we tap into real faith, that of experiencing and trusting what isn’t always immediately visible, nevertheless very real.

How reliant are you on your sight in your relationship with Christ? How do you limit your faith to the visual? How can you deepen your experience with Christ to a genuine faith that goes beyond what your eyes can see?

Scotty