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Rusty Miller
An old blues song proclaims, "No one's blinder than he who just won't see." That is especially true regarding God and His word. The person who fails to believe in scripture, though he may think his vision is perfect, will discover, hopefully before it is too late, that he has been blind and is in need of healing.
It is a theme which runs through the New Testament. Jesus healed a blind man in John 9, and in the process created a stir among Jewish leaders. As the story closes, Jesus says "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see; and that those who see may become blind" (v. 39).
Although the healing of the blind man was a true miracle, it served as a greater metaphor for those who could not see in the spiritual sense, for Jesus ability to give them sight is a far better gift, because it is this sight which will produce eternal life. Still, the Pharisees questioned Jesus, saying, "We are not blind too, are we?" (v. 40). Their inability to see themselves in such a way magnified their blindness.
With Saul, he had to experience physical blindness in order to realize his spiritual blindness (Acts 9:1-18). When he was blinded, he began to see his sin in persecuting Jesus. It could be said that he was more blind when his physical eyes had sight, than when he was actually blind. Surely, he later saw himself far more clearly, as he was able to say, "It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.
Finally, there is the blindness of the church at Laodicea. In Revelation 3, Jesus writes to this myopic band of Christians, and He criticizes their attitude: "Because you say, 'I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,' and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked" (v. 17). Their spiritual blindness had caused them to be unable to see their horrible condition before God. They had let themselves become a poverty-stricken, filthy, destitute lot by their unwillingness to actually see themselves as God saw them.
Fortunately, there is a cure for spiritual blindness. Jesus told the Laodiceans, "I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich, and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see" (v. 18).
The church at Laodicea could regain their sight, if only they were willing to look at themselves as God saw them. So too, when we are willing to see ourselves through God's eyes, we are better prepared to serve God and live by His word.
We are only blind when we refuse to see ourselves as sinners in need of God's help. When we can see that, we make the first steps toward seeing clearly again.
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