Blinded

Blinded: 1. Caused to be unable to see 2. Deprived of understanding

Have you ever been blinded by something? I’ve been riding quite a bit at the end of the day shortly before the sun sets, and to me there’s just something different about riding that time of day. It seems like the sun can become blinding then, more than at any other time. I often try to choose the direction I’m headed that time of day so that I won’t have to ride towards the sun for any length of time. Obviously it can’t be completely avoided, but it can be limited. Sometimes when I ride a single word will continue to pop in my mind ride after ride and just keep swirling around in multiple directions until I’m lead to write about it. That’s where I’m at now.

I was riding a familiar road and all of a sudden as I headed down a hill and around a curve there it was, the beautiful but blinding sun right in my eyes. My glasses are transition lenses but it was still extremely difficult to see much. Thankfully it was short lived and uneventful, but it definitely got me thinking. Blinded, that’s the word that kept popping in my head no matter where my thoughts would go. Have you ever been blinded? If so by what or by who? I remember being thrown off my horse many years ago, probably about 35 years, and I was briefly blinded as I lay on the ground. The questions that ran through my mind were never ending . Nobody knew exactly where I was, would they find me soon if I wasn’t able to get up and walk back, would my sight return or was this a permanent condition, how would I get back, if I got my sight back would I get on that horse again, etc. Needless to say my sight came back and it happened rather quickly but at the time it seemed like an eternity. Yes I did get back on that horse as well.

Blinded can take on the obvious physical condition but it can also be an emotional or spiritual condition. If we become too focused on one thing, it can blind us from seeing the big picture. If we focus only on the big picture, we may miss crucial details. If we dwell on negative things, we may miss the positive. We can be blinded by people’s actions or by what we choose to see in them. We can have thoughts we believe to be true about them and become so bedazzled that we miss other signs we should also consider. We are living in a world so full of information everywhere you turn, that it can be a daunting task to figure out what’s true and what’s not.

I find when I’m at the beach, especially at sunrise, I become so overwhelmed and entranced by the beautiful sunrise and all that it offers that I am aware of little else at the time. If I could take rides along the coastline I can only imagine the ramblings I would have to share, it would be the best of both worlds!

As I’ve been riding around home I’ve noticed something else that’s sad to me. I’ve noticed churches that not too many years ago had full parking lots and signs out front inviting people to come to events, now seem to have parking lots that are almost empty and very little if anything posted on their signs. It makes me wonder what happened to change that. I have my personal thoughts on the possibilities. In many ways I believe we as a society have become blinded by the media and by other groups that want to remove God from every aspect of our lives and encourage, sometimes even push, their own agendas repeatedly making believers afraid to speak up. I know I’ve not said things here that I thought sometimes for fear of how someone might take it, but not this time. It’s time to be bold and take a stand.

Last night as I passed by one of the churches that used to be so active and vibrant the verse about being lukewarm came to mind. I’m not saying this is the case for that church because I have no idea, it’s just what popped in this rambling grandma’s head.

Revelation 3:16 NKJV
“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.”

Those are some pretty strong words! I envision being lukewarm as being “a little pregnant.” You can’t be. We’re either all in (hot) or all out (cold). I’m afraid that there has been too much “feel good” preaching and not enough good old time Bible preaching. In my experience a preacher is a man who is called to preach and it’s done straight from the Bible and from his heart. Fear of offending others or stepping on toes does not come into play if the Word is being preached. Jesus didn’t sugar coat anything nor did he change his teaching to appeal to what people wanted to hear. We are called to make disciples, not make a society that makes up it’s own rules. Jesus himself said so-

Matthew 28:19-20
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

We shouldn’t have to change how we worship to attract people to church. I have no problem with a church that worships differently, as long as it’s from Him. The church should not be about making money, lining a preacher’s pockets so he can build himself a mansion to live in, entertaining it’s members, or making it’s members “feel good.” It’s about God’s word and how He expects us to live. It’s about spreading His word for the world to come to know Him and to serve others. We are all sinners and we all need Jesus, it’s that simple. I’m sure some reading this may not agree, and that’s your right, just as it’s my right to share what I believe.

Christians across the world are being singled out persecuted and murdered and the media is turning a blind eye to it, for their own agenda. We cannot continue to walk around with blinders on, acting as if there’s nothing wrong or there’s nothing we can do about it, we can!

Just in the past week or two I know of 2 students in 2 different schools, who gave their lives to save their classmates, by physically taking on another student with a gun who was bent on harming others. Guns are not the issue, hardened hearts and lack of respect for ourselves and other human beings is the problem. If God was at the center of our lives, we would not be in the state of chaos we are in, I truly believe that.

I started these ramblings because I felt God urging me to do so. When He tells me to speak boldly through them, I may initially question it to be sure it’s what He’s leading me to do, but in the end I know if it’s what He expects of me, He will give me the words. I will not be lukewarm nor will I be blinded spiritually. Ultimately He is the only reason I’m here today and I owe it to Him to be hot, all in.

Joshua 24:15

“And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”