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Spiritual Blindness
| `Take
heed to thyself lest thou forget Jehovah who hath brought thee out of
the land of Egypt, out of a house of servants; - Deuteronomy 6:12
Moses warned Israel that the land they were about to inherit would give
them prosperity which would be dangerous because they could forget God.
This is all too common. Even today, our preoccupation with all the
activities of daily life can push our consideration of God and our
relationship with him to the back burner such that our prayer life is
hindered and even our reverence for him diminishes.
The person who does not believe in God often sees a chaotic universe in
need of a God and considers himself for the job. A Christian’s neglect
of God is not as extreme, but does tend in the same direction. If we
lose a real perspective of God in our lives, we begin to think
ourselves and out plans as paramount.
Go, now, ye who are saying, `To-day and to-morrow we will go on to such
a city, and will pass there one year, and traffic, and make
gain;' who do not know the thing of the morrow; for what is your
life? for it is a vapour that is appearing for a little, and then is
vanishing; instead of your saying, `If the Lord may will, we
shall live, and do this or that;' - James 4:13-15
James addresses this same point that forgetting God begins to fill
one’s thoughts with self as if there were no God. The example James
gives does not sound particularly bad. Perhaps it is that business
planning is so routine that is the point. If we neglect acknowledgment
of God in our routine activities, we blind ourselves to his presence.
This blindness is a distortion of reality.
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own
understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall
direct thy paths. - Proverbs 3:5-6
In Proverbs we find another distinction between a life trajectory based
on our own thoughts without consideration (acknowledgment) of God and
one with it. In a way we place distance between ourselves and God when
we fail to consider him in even our most routine thoughts. We often
fail to understand that God is the source of wisdom and truth. Our
distance from him increases our vulnerability to deception and
foolishness. Just as a blind man is at risk of falling, so we are
vulnerable to the snares of the devil.
It would not seem difficult to remember God when making a bed, washing
the dishes, mowing the lawn. or sitting through a boring meeting.
However, we seldom do. Even the ritualized prayer at meal time can
begin to be less frequent. It can seem inconsequential, but it is by
small steps that we begin to separate ourselves from God. Modern life
is so integrated into the world that we have to make an effort to
acknowledge God in all our ways.
The Christian life is supposed to be about transitioning from the
selfishness of the flesh to the selfless Christ-like love that walking
by the Spirit allows us to achieve. Failing to become like Christ is to
remain immature. Failing to acknowledge or even remember God is to be
like those who reject God.
Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need
of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and
poor, and blind, and naked: - Revelation 3:17 |
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