We need your help!
We are preparing for December. December costs us about 5 times our normal monthly budget. This whole year we have been thousands of dollars short each month of what we need to operate. If you want to help us and don’t have spare change, consider having a yard sale for the children in our ministry. Involve your neighbors, school, local youth programs, and churches. This is the time of the year to clean out your closets and pull out your winter stuff! Donations are happily accepted in any form.
Blind
◄ John 9:41 ►
New International Version
Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
I am a follower of Christ. I am not a follower of a political party. I am not even a follower of preacher nor a denomination. I find when you follow anything too closely, too fanatically, you become blind to other things. I want to be blind to things that keep me away from my Lord. I don’t want anything to blind me to the Lord.
I try to stay as close to Christ’s teachings as possible. That alone feels like an impossible feat. I can’t even begin to think of adding to that effort. I have found out however, that if you try to imitate the Lord in everything you do, you are pretty much in line with most of the teachings of any church. People will always try to argue that point, but at the end of the day, Jesus’ approval is all that matters.
On top of a free government approved school, and two feeding centers for at-risk children, we have a kid’s church called the Winner’s Club. Today in our kid’s church, we taught John 9. It’s a hard chapter for most people. In seminary we called it the ‘blind chapter’.
John 9 is about two types of blindness, spiritual and physical. I think spiritual blindness is the worse of the two. Chapter 9 challenges us to really examine our beliefs, and question if we are right.
We need to ask the Lord to show us our blindness. If we arrogantly say we can see, (being sin free) there is nothing God can do for us. Just like an drug addict, we must see our sinfulness before we can repent of it and change. We also need to listen when God speaks to us through others. Always take time to hear other people’s opinions and pray about it.
Blindness comes in many forms. Many times we can be blinded by our mind’s inability to notice something. Motorcycles for example. Our brain is not expecting to see a motorcycle so we don’t register it right away when we see them on the highway. For that reason, motorcycles are dangerous. People see them with their eyes, but it doesn’t register until it’s too late. We are blinded by haste, distractions, wealth, fame, power, pride and love. All deceptive. All destructive. Spiritual pride is the most deceptive. It is also the most destructive and dangerous.
Every night before I go to sleep, I ask the Lord to let me see where I have blown it during the day. He is glad to point out my shortcomings. Usually my last words before I drift off are, ‘Lord forgive me’.
So, keep an open mind and ear to the Lord. Ask Him for sight. Ask Him to open your eyes to S.E.E.;
- S – Self-righteousness, expose it in ourselves.
- E – Empathy, for others. How can you serve?
- E – Exalt Christ above all else.
Below is a video of Winnie teaching about blindness-