2010 – November 5 – Blind Slaves All

Study from God’s Word… John 8: 12 – John 10: 21 … Passage for Reflection: John 9: 25 … NIV He [the blind man given sight by Jesus upon inquire by the Pharisees who claimed Jesus was a sinner and of the devil], “Whether he is a sinner or not I don’t know. One think I do know, I was blind but now I see.”

My Journal for Today: I don’t know how long you’ve been a Christian; but even many non-Christians can quote the first verse of the wonderful hymn which has become a standard in our culture, Amazing Grace, written by the repentant slaver, John Newton, who later in life became a Minister of the Gospel and published this hymn in 1779 …

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

And if you’re a Christian, you can likely sing that refrain to me; and maybe, like me, it has deep and personal significance for you; because, like Newton, I was spiritually blind before an encounter with God in brokenness – and spiritual blindness – at age 39; and I was given spiritual sight just as was the blind man of today’s highlighted text (from John 9: 25), … the man who gave witness to the truth that Jesus, whoever He was/is, had given this man physical sight when he had been blind since birth.

We are all blind slaves to sin before – and until – we are given spiritual sight by God’s Spirit when we truly repent and receive the gift of grace offered by Christ’s death and resurrection to anyone who believes on Christ as the Lord and Savior of all mankind [see Romans 10: 9-13]. And it is not until one truly sees the world God’s way, as documented by His word, that we can know that any blind sinner can become a sighted saint who glorifies God thereafter. That is why, though his life began to change when John Newton was wooed by the Holy Spirit as a slave trader, Newton didn’t feel that his conversion to Christ was real – i.e., his spiritual sight restored – until he was able to see the evil of slavery and denounce it as a mode of trade in England, mentoring the likes of William Wilberforce to decry slavery until it’s eradication in England in 1833.

But if you’re like I was, a spiritual blind-man, I can recall the change in my spiritual sightedness in 1983, when I quit calling myself an “agnostic,” and openly declared Christ as my Lord and Savior. And now, though I’m still a sinner, with a degree of spiritual near-sightedness, I can see the world through ever clearing spiritual eyes given to me as I grow in my surrender to Christ, who is the sight-giver for my life.

I can only pray – and I will below – that Christ has become your sight-giver, allowing you to see the world through His eyes as long as you can be in surrender to His truth and walk in the freedom He, The Christ, offers to any who are blind and desire to see truth with clarity through God’s eyes.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, I pray, here this morning, that all who read what I’ve written here have Your spiritual sightedness. And I pray that I can continue to grow in the clarity of sight only You can give us as believers in the One Who gives sight to the blind. Amen