Looking through Thorn-Covered Glasses?

Imagine trying to live with a log in your eye. Think you’d have some blind spots?

Jesus seemed to think so, saying:

                “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 

How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? 

You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” 

–Luke 6:41-42

We all have blind spots. When we try to see without removing them, we see differently, as if through a filter. Instead of having “rose-colored glasses” at times, we have “thorn-covered” vision.

Our prejudices block out some of the truth of the matter. Assumptions we’ve made, beliefs we maintain, and feelings that we haven’t handed over to God obstruct our view, distorting our perspective.

That filter can cloud everything else we see.

Imagine if Old Testament Israel had not closed their eyes to the rule of the Lord and looked instead upon the reign of earthly kings.

Imagine if the New Testament Jews had seen that their perception of the coming Messiah –a blazing, mighty warrior- had not prejudiced them against the lion coming as a lamb.

The disciples, at times, revealed their blind spots, too. Peter was notorious for making his known, even earning himself the rebuke from Jesus “get behind me, Satan.”

Trouble comes swiftly when we, like the oh-so-human characters we witness in Scripture, begin to act on those distorted views.

Making decisions, forming opinions, and taking control of things we don’t understand, we are quick to become “the blind leading the blind” and find ourselves soon in the pits of judgment, hypocrisy, and offense.

Have you ever been there?

Have you ever made your mind up about someone or something based off of a prejudice you had? Ever ended up regretting that opinion or losing out on something because of that attitude?

It’s hard for us to accept what Proverbs 20:24 has to say:

“A person's steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand their own way?”

We’re not the captains of our own ships, ultimately. Praise the Lord for that.

Knowing that we have blind spots, it is best to truly “live by faith, not by sight.”

What does that mean?

·         Keeping our hearts tender toward those who frustrate us

·         Listening for the Spirit to prompt us

·         Acting with discernment, but not judgement

·         Submitting to commands, verses, and the Lord’s work even when we don’t understand

·         Relying on Him instead of our own understanding

·         Avoiding hypocrisy by examining our hearts and asking the Lord to cleanse us

·         Seeking forgiveness for our prejudices and resulting sins

·         Emphasizing other’s blind spots only as ours are dealt with too

·         Refreshing our hearts daily with His Word and wisdom, which corrects and teaches

Let’s take off our thorn-covered glasses and expose our blind spots to the light of the Lord. His view is always better than ours. We can trust His direction and remove the filters that we’ve created to protect us –even from that which we don’t understand about Him.

This post is being shared on: #TestimonyTuesday, #RaRaLinkup, Intentionally Pursuing,Titus2sday, Woman to Woman Wednesday, Women with Intention, andTellHisStory.

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