Spiritual Blindness

During the course of this year we have spent a lot of time discussing our efforts to cure physical blindness. As terrible as the physical suffering is here from needless blindness there is a far more serious condition that afflicts Angolans and Americans alike—spiritual blindness.

Blind man being led by a young girl

I like Jesus’ perspective on spiritual blindness in His sermon on the mount as recorded in Matthew 6:19-23

¹⁹Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.²⁰But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ²²The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. ²³But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

As an eye doctor I must say that for the longest time I didn’t get the connection between verses 19-21 and 22-23. Why was Jesus being so hard on blind people? Didn’t they have enough problems without Jesus saying they were full of darkness?
I’d like to analyze Jesus’ words. A blind person is physically in darkness and as such will be unable to navigate their physical surroundings without specialized training or guidance. You have heard the expression about people groping around in the darkness; well this is precisely Jesus' point. Pretty terrifying. In fact, surveys show, fear of blindness ranked up there with fear of death.
As terrible as physical blindness is Jesus goes on further to talk about the light within being dark and bringing a kind of internal darkness to be feared more than physical blindness.
So what is this light within that Jesus talks about?

I think the light Jesus is referring to is what we call your worldview, or how you perceive and relate to the world around you. A type of vision that guides every aspect of your life. Your worldview guides you as you make small decisions about where to spend your free time, what movies to watch, books to read. And especially it guides large decisions, such as where to live, employment, relationships, and resource management.
So you can see that if your inner vision, or spiritual sight, is blind you really are in bad shape for your life. You will be groping about in the darkness about all of life’s decisions, big and small. This is truly tragic.
Jesus is providing us in this passage with examples of inner lights or worldviews.

“Do not store up treasure in the world” he says. This is not an indictment against persons with a bank savings account or personal property. As missionaries we rely on the fact that God has blessed some of his people with resources and they are faithful with that and support His work around the globe.
Treasure is something different than simple currency. It is something that you value highly above other things in your life. For one it could be a bank account or stock portfolio, or house, others it could be personal beauty, reputation, prestige or success.
But when you place these temporary things at the center of your life it will blind you. The belief that material things will bring you security, happiness or fulfillment is the inner darkness, or spiritual blindness. Running after these things will leave you blind for all decisions in life. That’s not to say some good things may not happen to you if you are living as such, every once in a while even a blind squirrel finds a nut. But on the whole, for all big important decisions you will be without direction. Groping in the dark. Feeling that you are lost and without hope, particularly when one of these treasures is taken from you.

In stark contrast to this, Jesus presents a better way; to store up treasures in heaven. This is the cure for spiritual blindness. With our treasure in Heaven we will make decisions with all the guidance God can provide and navigate through this life in the way it was truly meant to be lived.
And this starts by having a life transforming relationship with Jesus that transforms every aspect of your life. Because faith in Jesus not only provides eternal security, but also provides the vision or worldview necessary to live the human life as it was intended.
When Jesus says that we are storing up treasures in heaven He is not suggesting that we are merely stockpiling for the great beyond, a type of life insurance policy that is only collectable on death. Yes, it is true, there is an eternity to be spent with our Creator in Heaven, this is something to be desired. But, this treasure is available now, in this life.  In the form of God’s sovereign provision, fruits of the spirit, the Holy Spirit Himself.
So how do we go about storing up treasures in heaven and curing spiritual blindness? I believe Jesus provides us with clear directions on how to ensure that we are living with the proper worldview. It is recorded in the book of Mark 12:30-31 as the greatest commandment

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”

According to Dallas Willard we ought to “Invest your life in what God is doing, this treasure cannot be lost. Devote ourselves to the good of other people, all of whom God cares for deeply. Do your part to bring the love of Jesus to your world, wherever that may be.” In doing so, you can be assured that your inner light will be as bright as the heavens and will help bring light to the darkness of those suffering from spiritual blindness.

My good friend Dr Steve Collins in Angola tells this story of an elderly woman who he had performed a surgery on and frankly, it didn’t go very well, and she remained blind after the surgery. Dr Steve was very concerned about this and was apologizing profusely to the woman. She could tell that he was upset about this and said. “Doctor, you don’t need to worry about me. You see, I have a friend and His name is Jesus, do you know him? He tells me that everything is going to be ok and we can trust him”.  This is the type of attitude that we can have only when our worldview is aligned with the kingdom of heaven. The world may crash around us, but we are secure in His hands.

At Boa Vista I’m faced with physical blindness every day. Some I can cure. Many I cannot. However, for every person who is sitting in my exam chair I can offer hope. While it is certainly sad when a person loses their physical vision, we can offer them something of much greater value, hope in Jesus Christ. Saving knowledge of a life transforming relationship that will strip away the darkness from inside of their soul and replace it with the brilliance that is Jesus.

 

As you enter this Christmas season make sure that you are celebrating it with a clear spiritual vision.

 

God Bless you

John