What Makes Us Spiritually Blind?

"Jesus said, 'For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.' Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked,"What? Are we blind, too?" Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains." (John 9:39-41 NIV)

If what I say today sounds redundant, please forgive the heart that desires everyone to know truth. Jesus had a conversation with the man He had healed from blindness after the Pharisees threw him (the man no longer blind) out of the temple. Jesus understood the heart of the Pharisees--that they declared themselves to be righteous above all others and though they claimed to have knowledge of God, they did not do as God wanted them to do.

We have the same problem with people in church leadership today and with those who aren't. Here's the crux of the matter. If we claim to know and understand God and will not obey His Word, then we are spiritually blind. Those who claim to not know God, once they have experienced His mercy and will still not obey are also spiritually blind. However those who never knew God, but experienced His mercy and understood who He is and how He wants us to live--those--He opened their eyes and they could see--spiritually--all that He desired them to see.

I can imagine--haven't died and gone to heaven and come back--so my imagination will have to do--that when we stand before God on that day--the day sinner and saved alike will be judged, that many people are going to be surprised by who makes it in and who didn't. Picture this: We're all waiting to hear what God has to say about the lives we lived on earth and He opens the Book of Life, calling us one by one. Within the Book--He has noted when we acknowledged Him and attempted to live as He would have us to live. Noted, I said--attempted--for there is no perfect person on earth. Then He pronounces our judgment--it will either be, "Well done" or "Depart from me, I never knew you."

Who will hear, "Well done?" All those who eyes were opened, spiritually--after coming into knowledge of Him and developing a relationship with Him and doing the will of the Father.

Who will hear, "Depart from me, I never knew you?" All those who claimed to know God, yet would not live in obedience to His Word and changed it--selectively--to they could live in sin and still claim to have a relationship with God.

And there remains another group of people and I have no idea what they will hear, but I have a feeling I know where they'll spend eternity. This group of people will be those who denied God's existence so they would not have to obey Him and encouraged others to do as they did. And they continued to deny His existence after repeatedly being exposed to the Truth of God's Word, in total rebellion--not wanting anyone to have any authority over their lives. Unfortunately, they didn't realize when they chose to deny God, they also chose to be influenced by Satan--who also rebelled against God and was thrown out of heaven when he wanted to be the one in authority--over God. Imagine that--an angel that God created, wanted to have authority over the creator!

There are still people who are spiritually blind--those who think their knowledge is greater than God's, their wisdom wiser, and their strength greater. They believe that they can do any and everything without God and have. They fail to realize that without God, nothing we do will matter.

So, today--once again--I encourage all to get to into God's Word, develop a relationship with Him, and live life pleasing Him, rather than attempting to please man. Allow God to open spiritually blinded eyes, bringing all into the family so all will hear, "Well done!"