The Tragedy of Spiritual Blindness...

The Tragedy of Spiritual Blindness...
Recently, I was chatting with my kids what it would be like to be blind, not able to see. The inability to see the beauty of creation and the faces of those we love. One of my kids noted that it would probably be preferable if someone was born blind, rather than if they went blind. I doubt anyone would ask to be blind. I think most would agree that blindness is especially tragic, whether it is a progressive deterioration or being blind from birth.

 But what is even more tragic to the human condition is that of spiritual blindness. Spiritual blindness is the willful inability to see the truth of God and the need of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The world we live in today stresses individual autonomy.  They say, “Hey!  My life is good...I don’t need God.”In reality they do not see themselves as sinners and so they are blind to their need of a Saviour. Sometimes  this can be an intellectual, skeptical ignorance, questioning and maybe even possibly knowing the truth but still stubbornly refusing to accept it. Other times it is simply just seeing Jesus as irrelevant and a “non-essential” for one’s life. Whatever the cause of spiritual blindness, it has eternal consequences.

The Bible describes this blindness as living in the darkness, being separated from God because of ignorance: “They are hopelessly confused. Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against Him. They have no sense of shame...” (Ephesians 4:18)

I love the story in John 9 because Jesus Christ came to give sight to the blind...even when they may not fully understand it all.  This passage tells how Jesus healed a man who had been born blind. He had never seen the face of his parents or the people passing by.  And right away after Jesus had done the impossible, the religious professionals, who should have been ecstatic at such a miracle still refused to believe that it was Jesus who had healed the man’s eyesight. The man who once was blind didn’t even know who it was who healed his blindness. But once he knew he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and he worshipped Christ.

Today, many pseudo-intellectuals will quickly dismiss Jesus Christ and His claims. They are incurably blind. Many may study the sciences and the most complex philosophies of the world...and yet they still reject the saving Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul describes it this way,“If the Good News (i.e. the Gospel) we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing. Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the  glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.”  (2 Corinthians 4:3-4)

Here is the Good News...Jesus Christ, the Son of God came to this world as “the Light” and he shines in the darkness. And so when anyone simply turns to Him in faith, knowing they are a sinner in need of God’s forgiveness, the blindness is lifted, it is completely taken away. One more thing, light will always overpower the darkness. Something to think about!