Blind Spots

A recent development in my life has been the loss of some peripheral vision in my right eye. When I drive, I have to turn my head slightly to the right to see things I would have normally caught out of the "corner of my eye." If I fail to glance to the right, I could find myself suddenly in an intersection with another vehicle or bicycle. My blind spot is dangerous, especially when it comes to seeing things I must.

Jesus' closest friend was a man named John, one of the original four disciples. He left the family fishing business to follow Jesus. He was--it seems--always close to Jesus . . . near him in the upper room, with him in the garden, the last disciple at the foot of the cross. John became a leader in the early church. He led by speaking of Jesus, reminding people of the things he taught and did. In his first letter to the early church, he wrote about blind spots.

"This is the message we heard from him (Jesus) and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." 1 John 1: 5-6, 8

The last verse I sited is one that seemed absurd to me, "If we say we have no sin . . ." How could that be? Doesn't the whole becoming a Christian thing involve an acknowledgement of sin? Wasn't that covered with these people in Gospel 101? How could a Christ follower even think in these terms? John is calling out two blind spots--one theological and one practical.

Theologically, people mix God revealed truth with manmade nuances to deal with some of the tensions in following God. Jesus redeemed me from sin, but the struggle with sin remains. Left to ourselves, we seek and find a designer point of view that allows God and sin to happily coexist. "Not so fast," says John. Taking them back to his eyewitness testimony of Jesus' teaching, John reminds us that God is light, in him is not even a shred of darkness. As we live in this sin infected world, the character of God--not culture, our friends, family or even church--should be our reference point for evaluating our conduct. To be his child is be set on a path to becoming like him.

Practically, this verse confronts a more subtle, yet dangerous blind spot. I remember a day when again I read and pondered the absurdity of verse eight when the Spirit of God whispered, "When was the last time you confessed your sin?" The reflex in my mind answered back, "What sin?" BINGO! Though I'd never be foolish enough to claim I have no sin, the absence of confession in my life betrayed a blind spot--the supression of the convicting and cleansing work of God's Spirit. To confess is literally to label sinful behavior as God sees it, not to ignore, rationalize, justify, or blame others for it. To deny sin in confession free life is to deceive myself not only about sin's presence in my life but its impact on every aspect of my world, especially my relationships.

A blind spot is refusal to see what we must see. We all have them. Our "feel good about yourself," positive thinking culture nurtures them. However, inviting the examination of God's Spirit (Psalm 139: 23-24), owning what it reveals and confessing it to God liberates us from the life stealing affects of sin. One of the great promises in the Bible is found in the verse immediately following verse eight:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1: 9

To deal with your blind spots is to live the eternal kind of life!