When our daughter began to lose sight, her world changed. Though she perceived light, the light itself blinded her because of the compromised condition of her eyes. Sunglasses became more than a fashion statement wherever she went. Shapes lost their edges and faces ran together. Words drowned on pages without hope of rescue.
But what she couldn’t see with her eyes, she began to see with her ears and her heart. She learned that sight was a whole-body experience.
Jesus understood that sight is more than the function of the eyes. He spoke against the unnecessary blindness that had disabled his church family. He called Pharisees “blind guides.” (Matthew 23:16) But it was self-inflicted blindness. They couldn’t see who Jesus was because they wouldn’t see.
I fear there is a blinding today that makes us under-see what should be plain to see. We use this blindness to expose injustice and immorality in others. But Jesus never lets us play the “other person” card.
Where is my blindness? Where I am too quick to point a finger at my culture’s depravity and pat myself on the back with arrogance that “I am not like other people.” Pride blinds quicker than a disease.
What if we used this journey to the cross to surrender the right to compare, point fingers, or choose our own standards for tolerance and morality? What clarity and vision could we have if we used our sight to look at ourselves through God’s eyes and not just our own.
When Jesus healed physically blinded people; it changed their lives. They received new freedom and a had a story to share.
But the healing of the blind heart is harder. Not for Jesus; for us. We see what we want without processing vision loss.
In a hopeful story, a stumbling, desperate, persistent blind man pushed through the crowd that tried to silence him. He had to get to Jesus. Interesting, he didn’t ask for healing first. He asked for mercy. Important order. (Luke 18:15-43) Then, Jesus asks a question.
“What do you want me to do for you,” Jesus asked the blind man.
“Lord, I want to see.”
I need to pray that prayer today:
Lord, I want to be done with seeing another’s blindness
without allowing You to call out my own.
I want to see my pride as the self-righteous arrogance
that blinds me from addressing it.
I want to see fear as a self-conscious preoccupation
that blinds me from your all-power.
I want to fall on my knees and cry mercy for my denial.
Lord, I want to see . . . you!
The is a journey to the cross for sure. It is a journey of surrender of things that aren’t as general as we would like them to be. But it is a journey that I am determined to take.
After all, Easter waits.
Download the complete 6-week devotional guide by clicking here. or on the picture to the right.
Having trouble? No worries. Send me a quick message at debmgoodwin@gmail.com
and I'll send you the document by email.
Comments