Do You Have A Spiritual Blind Spot?
Are you sure you see yourself especially your faults — the way God does?
Before
you read this article, hold this
magazine about 12 inches in front of you
so that the black dot on the opposite page
is level with your right eye. Cover the other eye
with your hand.
Now look straight at the dot and
keeping the page 12 inches from your face, move the page
slowly around your head to the right. [Editor's Note: the image is not available in the online reprint]
Did
you notice that at a certain point the black dot disappears? Then, when
you move the page farther to the right, the dot reappears before
finally moving completely out of your field of vision.
What happened?
There
is a point in your eye where the optic nerve enters the eyeball.
Because there is no retina (the inner surface of the eye) at this
point, no vision can be registered. For this reason, this part of the
eye is called the "blind spot." When the image of the black dot passed
OVER the blind spot, you could not see it.
The blind-spot area
is so small that normal eye movements compensate for it. In the course
of your daily activity you don't even notice it. Nevertheless, it is a
fact that thereare two small areas, one in each eye, where
even a person with perfect vision is completely blind. Now read on.
Spiritual blindness
The
Bible commands God's begotten children to examine themselves each year
at this time.so that they do not take the Passover unworthily (I Cor.
11:27-29). After examining yourself. when you take the symbols of
Christ's sacrifice you rededicate yourselves to overcoming the many
faults that you have seen are still there. But what about the ones that
you have not seen?
You have just proved that you have a physical
blind spot. But could you perhaps have a spiritual blind spot — an
area, or areas, where you just cannot see?
The Bible tells us
ihat this is exactly the situation. Look at Psalm
19:12. David wrote: "Who can understand his errors?
"Cleanse
me from secret faults." What did David mean by his "secret faults"?
King David was a man alter God's own heart (Acts 13:22). He did not
show a hostile attitude toward God and he tried hard to change whenever
he could see that he was wrong. But notice that I said "whenever he
could see that he was wrong". He couldn't always see it.
David
stole Bathsheba. another man's wife, and made her pregnant. After
conniving and cheating in an attempt to avoid the consequences, he
finally arranged to have Bathsheba's husband. Uriah, killed in battle.
But.
incredible as it seems, David did not see how terribly wrong that whole
episode was until the prophet Nathan hronght him to his senses (II
Samuel. chapters 11 and 12). The whole miserable episode showed King
David that he had some serious blind spots in his character.
But
don't judge David too harshly. For perhaps you, too, have spiritual
blind spots — areas where you just can't see how. where and why you are
wrong. Sometimes it is hard enough to recognize and admit the problems
you can see. So how do you go about overcoming those that you cannot?
In
Psalm 139:23-24 David wrote. "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try
me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me.
and lead me in the way everlasting." In other words, you must ask God
to show you the things that you cannot see.
How will God do this'' Let's look at some of the ways.
Bible study
First. God can teach you through personal Bible study.
Hebrews
4:12 says that (God's Word is sharper than a "'two-edged sword" and can
penetrate through layers of resistance to discern the thoughts and
intents of the heart. The stories and examples of the Bible show how
God dealt with the thoughts and intents of many men and women. both
righteous and unrighteous.
The great Elijah, we are told, was a
man who had the same human nature that we have (Jas. 5:17). Sometimes
Elijah showed great faith, but he was also, from lime to time, the
victim of discouragement. Moses, the meekest of all men (Num. 12:3).
had moments of stubbornness and even bad temper. The prophet Jeremiah
more than once felt like giving up. Paul and Barnabas quarreled. Yet
all these qualified for the Kingdom of God.
Study the examples
in your Bible Ask God. through His Holy Spirit, to teach you about
yourself as you read. But remember this: If you start to see something
wrong, admit it. A main characteristic of a converted person is
willingness to admit when he is wrong, and then repent. If you intend
to justify your faults, you may as well not bother to look for them.
Do you judge others?
But
Bible study is not the only way to locate your blind spots. You know
the old saying, "If we could see ourselves as others see us
. . " Well, we can.
Look at Romans 2:1: "Therefore you are
inexcusable, O man. whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you
judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same
things." We can often see our own faults more clearly in other people.
Think
about this, if there is a certain type of behavior that you find
especially irritating in others, you may have that same problem
yourself. It's just that you can't see it when you do it.
When
God sent Nathan to show David his sin with Bathsheba, Nathan reported a
case in which a rich man who owned many sheep
had stolen a pour man's pet lamb and killed it for a
dinner (II Sam. 12:1-4). King David was outraged that anyone should be
so greedy and selfish! Such a man must be put to death, David
pronounced (verse 5).
Then Nathan quietly pointed out that this
was precisely what David had done when he stole the wife of Uriah and
then caused Uriah's death.
What kind of behavior in others
angers you most? Is it greed? Selfishness? Aloofness? Or maybe
laziness, prejudice, stubbornness or gossip? Think carefully, for in
your answer may well be a clue to your own blind spot "for you who
judge practice the same things."
Through circumstances
God can also reveal your blind spot to you through circumstances.
Jesus
said. "With what judgment you judge, you will be judged: and with the
same measure you use, it will be measured back to you" (Matt. 7:2). In
other words, God will often see to it that you are treated the way you
treat other people.
Jacob was a young man of great talent and
ability, but he had a serious fault: He would lie, connive and scheme
to get his own way, without a thought for other people's feelings.
Jacob
deceived his father Isaac into blessing him, instead of his brother
Esau, with the birthright. That incident split up the family and caused
much suffering and ill will (Gen. 27).
God. of course, fully
intended Jacob to have the birthright and could have worked it out in a
way that nobody got hurt. But this was not the first time that Jacob
had used cunning to get his own way (Gen. 25:29-34). He had a blind
spot and needed to be taught a lesson.
During the next few years
Jacob met his match. His employer, Laban, tricked him out of his wages
and the wife for whom he had labored seven years. And then, toward the
end of his life, Jacob was also deceived by a dead goat, just as he had
deceived his father. You remember how Jacob'-- sons dipped Joseph's
coat of many colors in the blood of a goal to convince Jacob, that his
favorite son, whom they had sold, was dead. Jacob spent many years of
grief, deceived as he had deceived others.
Has God allowed
hurtful or embarrassing things to be done to you? Has someone you love
let you down? Have you been insulted, humiliated or made to feel an
outsider, left out of things? Have others hurt your pride or your
feelings by gossip? Perhaps there is a lesson in it for you. Are you
being given a taste of your own medicine?
At this time of the
year, when we think about putting sin out of our lives, it is good to
consider what the Bible calls the "leaven" of the Pharisees - hypocrisy
(Luke 12:1).
Beware hypocrisy
Christ
had much to say to the religious leaders of the first century. In
Matthew 23:16, He called them "blind guides," for in their
self-righteousness, they had indeed become blinded to the real needs of
those they should have been serving. Time and again. Christ hit the
blind spot of these men. When we read about it today, their mistakes
are obvious. But they could not see them.
Christ needs to be
certain that those He is training to be leaders in the world tomorrow
do not make the same mistake. The leaven of hypocrisy did not die with
the Pharisees. Does Christ see some of it in you today?
Are you
beginning to see that you may indeed have a spiritual blind spot? But
when you see it and you realize that others have seen it (and perhaps
have suffered because of it) all along, it is embarrassing.
Perhaps
you finally begin to understand something that your family and friends
have been trying to tell you for years The natural reaction is to hide
it again quickly — just like you can make the little black dot
"disappear" by moving it back over your blind spot. But don't give in
to that temptation. Keep the problem in the open, where you can fight
it.
David, when showed his sin, told God, "I acknowledge my
transgressions, and my sin is ever before me" (Ps. 51:3). Although
David never forgot that he was capable of such behavior. He never made
a mistake like that again (I Kings 15:5).
This Passover, don't
just be content with a quick review of the faults you know you have.
Ask God for help in seeing your "secret" sins as well.
By John A. Halford Good News Magazine March 1983
