You may not be seeing everything!

“Are you saying we’re blind?”

John 9:40 New Living Translation

I need bigger rear view mirrors!

As I get older and roads get wilder and cars get faster and drivers get more ‘driven’ … well, I have blind spots behind me that could hide a two story house.

Blind spots. You know, those areas around us as we drive that we don’t see even if we look. Vital things remain hidden because the view is blocked by our car’s architecture or our carelessness in looking. We inadvertently cut off the journey of another. We could all use that new ‘lane change warning’ technology available in today’s cars.

In the same way it’s easy to sideswipe our way through life if we aren’t aware of our personal blind spots.

In John 9 Jesus heals a man who had been blind since birth. His neighbors take him to the Pharisees (read: People Who Should Know Better) and they grill him and his parents. Their reason? They had spiritual and cultural blind spots large enough to hide a whole caravan of camels.

The ex-blind man becomes exasperated by their repeated questions. “I’m not positive who he is, but before I met him I couldn’t see and now I can. If this man wasn’t from God, he could not do something like this.”

And for speaking to them with such insight and candor, he is thrown out of synagogue fellowship. Later when Jesus confirms to him who he really is and clears the last of his spiritual blind spots, Jesus says, “I entered this world to render judgment—to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.” John 9:39 New Living Translation

 And that’s when the religious leaders asked, “Are you saying that we’re blind?” Their guilt was based, not on their blindness but their claims that they could see. In reality they could see, but chose not to.

This week the lesson is obvious. We need unobstructed views to stay safely in our lanes, to keep from cutting someone off. We must be aware of the danger that surrounds us. God wants us to navigate life safely. He wants us to arrive at our destination intact, not having destroyed anyone else along the way.

So allow God to point out your blind spots. Drive with a ‘spotter’ who may just see things you don’t. And be careful of driving with a ‘stiff neck’ that keeps you from easily seeing what’s around you.

“Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it.” II Corinthians 13:5,6 The Message