Life Spark: Admit your need for more exposure to truth. (John 9:35-41)
I learned about cameras in the third grade. I built a crude camera by putting a pinhole in a small cardboard box and capturing an inverted picture on photographic film. I was intrigued by light and exposure. As was the blind man who was exposed to Jesus, and then exposed to spiritual pride in the religious leaders of his day.
Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and went and found him. He asked him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” The man said, “Point him out to me, sir, so that I can believe in him.” (John 9:35-36, MSG) The new visionary looked for something beyond blind faith. He asked for more insight, more evidence, more revelation, more truth.
When I walked away from God as a young man, my life became empty and dark. I wanted to believe in God again, but no longer felt faith was logical or feasible. Finally, I asked God for a specific sign of His reality, and at that point Jesus began to reintroduce me to Himself.
I have a friend, Stephen, who has an effective ministry in Christian apologetics. Stephen was a staunch agnostic until he took a friend up on her offer to spend a year researching reasons for faith or lack of faith. Reasons to believe can be discovered in nature, in scripture, all around us. Maybe we just need a person to point them out.
Jesus said, “You’re looking right at him. Don’t you recognize my voice?” (John 9:37, MSG) This man was blind when Jesus sent him off to the pool where he received virgin eyesight. He had heard Jesus’ voice but he had not seen Jesus. Up to this point, he was trying to believe in a person he hadn’t seen. When Jesus pointed to Himself, the man became an eye witness to eternal aliveness in a human body. (9:38)
This is a beautiful picture of progressive revelation. If we acknowledge our blindness and crave better insight, God will give us more revelation. On the other hand, if we pretend to have 20/20 knowledge already, we will become pretentiously, progressively blind. “Those who have made a great pretense of seeing will be exposed as blind.” (John 9:39b, MSG)
Life-question: In what area would you say, “I am partially blind. I’d like to see more.”