Saturday, July 9
Where am I blind?
Scripture: 1 Chronicles 20-21, Psalm 80, John 9
John 9:39 Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, in order that those who do not see will see and those who do see will become blind.”
Observation
John 9 opens with Jesus’ disciples asking Jesus about a blind man they had just passed, “Who sinned: this man or his parents?” They were operating on the common assumption of cause/result, that sickness was punishment for sin. He was blind because of sin; the question was whose sin?
At the end of the story, the Pharisees reveal that they operated with the same assumption. They bitterly told the now-healed blind man, “You were born entirely in sin.”
Jesus says that the assumption is false, and the story ends with Jesus telling the Pharisees: “I came into this world for judgment, in order that those who do not see will see and those who do see will become blind.”
The seeing (the disciples and the Pharisees) were actually blind. And the blind man ended up seeing. Jesus challenged and overthrew the established religious order and the assumptions it was built on.
Application
What are my false operating assumptions? Where am I blind, but I think I see?
It is possible for me to be as blind as the Pharisees or the disciples. I just don’t know my blind spots…that’s why they’re called blind spots.
I’m not arguing that we give up our convictions, only that we hold them with humility, curiosity and a teachable spirit.
And that we continue to ask Jesus to heal our blindness and help us see.
Prayer: Lord, show me my blindness and heal me. Help me see. Help me to hold my convictions with humility, curiosity and a desire to learn—and a willingness to change when wrong.