Blind Spot part 1
Jesus had a lot to say about blindness. One of my favorites is, "...Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?" (Luke 6:39). Mostly because its a little bit cheeky and it sounds cool. But what's really interesting to me is that Jesus came to give sight to the blind... but He also came to take sight FROM those who thought they could see. Look at John 9:39, "And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind." He wanted it to go both ways. That was the judgment. A levelling of the playing field if I can say it that way. To explain, let me quote the next two verses in John chapter 9: "And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth" (John 9:41-42). Interesting that the Phariesees knew He was talking about them, eh? But that's the thing--if you're blind you know you need help. But if you think you know it all, if you think you can "see" then you won't accept help. You think you have it all figured out. You can see all the angles. But I think, no matter who you are, no matter how much you think you can see, you always have blind spots. You always have things that you miss. Whether its your own behavior--in which you feel justified, maybe, but don't understand the damage you're doing--or someone else's--"that's just the way they are." Well, that may be just the way they are but that doesn't make it ok. And if you turn a blind eye to it you're kind of enabling it. What you allow is what will continue. When the blind leads the blind everybody ends up in a ditch. But Jesus came to give sight to the blind. He came to shine a light so that we could see clearly. The light of the world. The light of love. When the light shines, darkness flees. When God arises, His enemies are scattered. So, to me, there's two parts to this. The judgment of God is not to punish anyone. Ever. God's judgment wasn't to kill His only begotten Son. His judgment was to raise Jesus back to life after Jesus sacrificed Himself. God's judgment is to make those who (think they can) see blind. But only so that He can TRULY open their eyes. Sometimes we have to hit rock bottom before we can start to climb. Sometimes we need to have NEW eyes. Like when Jesus made eyes out of clay that one time (see John chapter 9). Its like how we can't experience the new birth until we have the second death (the death OF death). A blind spot is just that--its something you're not aware of. And until someone shines some light on it... I always say, "If I don't know what the problem is, I can't fix the problem." Sometimes we need to be made blind, in a sense, so that we can be recalibrated, and made to see. Everybody has blind spots. But everybody can see clearly when the light is shining! When the light shines, things are revealed to be in Divine Order. When the light shines, the truth of the matter is revealed. The ultimate truth of the universe that God is love and He loves you!