SCRIPTURE: John 9:35-41
“If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.” (John 9:35-41)
Jesus is talking about figurative blindness (‘you claim you can see’).
Are there people who are blind in this figurative sense?
That is, they genuinely cannot see, cannot understood, cannot know – like this man?
I am thinking of people who have never heard of God or Jesus.
Or people whose life circumstances prevent them from fully knowing.
Maybe people who have been taught a narrow or mistaken view of God.
These people, suggests Jesus, ‘would not be guilty of sin’.
My sense is that God knows the weakness and confusion of our minds.
God is gracious with us, unless we remain arrogant and closed-minded.
Acting as if we know everything, when we really know nothing.
Wisdom is not knowing more, it is realizing how little we know.
True understanding leads to humility and awareness of our weakness and limitation.
Too often Christians act as if we have God and theology figured out.
All our systems of theology and creeds and requirements for salvation…
I have a whole lot less certainty as I get older.
What I once thought I understood, I now hold lightly with a sense of mystery and caution.
My confidence is less in my understanding of God, and more in God.
I am comforted that God graciously accepts me in my ignorance and blindness.
He will open my eyes one day; until then I walk by faith.
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, forgive me for thinking I have You figured out. Forgive me for putting You in a box. You are Who You are, may I one day know You in Your fullness. Until then, I believe, help me in my unbelief.