I have been thinking about “blind spots” because I literally have them and was reading in I John 2 about being spiritually blind and wondered (silly girl!) if there was a message in there for me.
I was diagnosed about 20 years ago with 'bilateral anterior idiopathic ischemic optic neuropathy,' which means that I have a blind spot in each eye that effects my lower peripheral vision. If I look straight ahead I can't see my feet.
Now the doctor at the Casey Eye Clinic explained to me that the brain will not accept a 'hole' in our vision but will fill in what it believes should be there from the surrounding information. So I will think I see something, because my brain is giving me information it believes should be there and I have no idea that I am really not 'seeing' it. It's just conjured up in my brain—amazing!
But that is the way that blind spots work. If I know about it, it's not a blind spot. That being the case, how do I know if I have a blind spot? And what do I do about it?
In I John 10 – 11 it says:
“Whoever loves his brother [believer] abides (lives) in the Light, and in It or in him there is no occasion for stumbling or cause for error or sin.
But he who hates (detests, despises) his brother [in Christ] is in darkness and walking (living) in the dark; he is straying and does not perceive or know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” (AMP)
What I understand this to mean is that I need each and every one of my Christian brothers and sisters. As we live under the umbrella of love, rather than law, my actions are guided by that love as described in I Cor.13:9-11. Hate (loving less) reveals our blind spots to each other and hopefully causes a change in the course of our behavior.
So to each and every one of you who are my friends or acquaintances, I am grateful for you and I need you, so thank you as I strive towards learning more about love and walking in the light.
I John 2:9 - 11
The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.
The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.
But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
I Corinthians 13:4 - 7
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,
does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account
a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.