Too blind to see - a warning against spiritual arrogance.

The danger of Spiritual Arrogance

Blindness is for me a scary thought!  

                          

In Luke 18: 35-42 we read the fascinating story of the blind man who cried out to Jesus for help. Without ceasing; to endless frustration of the disciples and other onlookers he kept calling until he had the Lord's full attention. I am convinced that there were many other sick people in the crowd who also cried to Jesus that day. But there was something in this man's voice that made Jesus turn around. The dirty, worn, shabby looking man was sentenced by his blindness to the life of a beggar. But the Lord knew that in his heart, this man required more than just a piece of bread for the evening. In him was found a yearning for a fruitful life. "Lord, I want to see!" These words contained a chest full of needs, desires and yearnings. With these few words his heart is actually giving paragraphs of information. "Lord, I'm tired of sitting, I'm tired of begging, and I want to go where you go. But I can see. I'm too blind, Lord! I lose my way; I fall and make a fool of myself. I am obliged to follow those who are willing to guide me, but Lord I'm too blind - they sometimes lead me onto strange paths and then I am struggling to find my way home. Lord, I want to see! I want to see clearly! No more blindness. No more darkness."

What is your greatest fear?

What makes the inside of your stomach twists at the very thought of it? Death? A severe illness? Financial ruin? Or do you fear something much more personal such as the unknown or loneliness? No matter what it is fear is much more than just being scared. Fear is experienced in a moment ... fear paralyzes your soul... especially when your mind tip-toe's there in the stillness of the night.

My fear is twofold. 

And though the Bible will always be my fountain of life flowing from the throne of God, there are two passages in the Word that let me lay awake at night. The first is found in Ezekiel 3: 17-21: 

“Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thy hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. Again, when a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thy hand. Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning; and thou hast delivered thy soul.”

"But his blood I will require from your hand!" How terrible are these words! How frightening to think that Christ, who’s hands have been pierced for every soul on this earth, will one day to look at me and say: "Roné, because of your actions, because of your careless use of words, as a result of your wrong teaching or lack of proper leadership, this man; this woman; this child ... is lost to my Kingdom." This makes my stomach twist – this paralyzes my soul in the stillness of the night as I am reflecting over my day ... Then I start an examination of my entire life. I put my inspector suit on and climb over the fences of old memories and I'm looking, searching... and praying. Oh Lord, show grace to me the greatest sinner of them all! There were too many careless words and too much lack of good leadership. Let your children not pay the price of my weaknesses!

I do not know you:

The second passage is found in Matthew 7: 21-23 

“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out demons, and by thy name do many mighty works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

These words of Christ must have scared the sandals of the disciples' feet! Is it possible that you can stand actively in the work of the Lord and still be lost? Let me ask it in another way - is it possible that you can stand in the service of the Lord and do more harm than good? We can perhaps understand young Christian workers - inexperienced and over-zealous! But what of seasoned workers? Old hands? Is it possible that I could become so over confident in my work for the Lord that I become too blind to realize I do more damage than good? Is there a spiritual arrogance that threatens to consume us over the years? The ‘I know everything - you can teach me nothing" attitude ...

Spiritually too blind to see ...

Leo Tolstoy said: "An arrogant person considers himself / herself perfect. This is the chief harm of arrogance. It interferes with a person's main task in life - to become a better person. "

Both these Biblical passages cause me to lay awake at night for they both refer to the root of this evil - spiritual arrogance. In both cases, the Lord refers to those who are in God's service (and if you hang the name of Christian around your neck you stand in His service!). And so it is that when I read these scriptures that I start calling to Jesus like the blind man yelled his  beggar-call! "Lord, I want to see! For how terribly blind spiritual arrogance can be!" 

In a way, I think there is nothing worse. The murderer and the thief know their sin, they know what they did wrong. But the arrogant person - especially the spiritual arrogant person is too blind to see. This truth makes me terrified! I worn, poor, blind beggar called my supplication to the only One who can cure me of this blindness that is making me a spiritual fool.

Lord, I want to see! Please don’t allow me to become so spiritually blind that I fail to notice that my arrogance is alienating me from you and from my neighbor. Open the eyes of my heart when my mind becomes so over-confident that I fail to realize that I am perishing. For spiritual arrogance makes us so blind that we run after wrong voices... and they cause us to fall and make utter fools of ourselves ... but in our blindness we muddle ahead and try to find our own way. The most pitiable fact is that everyone else can see ... everyone except me ... Lord, keep me from spiritual arrogance! Keep me from spiritual foolishness! For nothing causes so much harm to Your work than an arrogant Christian.

A final word of encouragement:

Make sure that your ministry is God's ministry. Remove all arrogance and pride. Spend much time in silence with your Master. Learn from him, follow him, let him direct your paths and Let all success be His success.

And remember loved ones...

"There is only one celebrity in the Church and that is Jesus Christ!

We are co-workers of Him - not co-stars.

Do not let your ministry place more spotlight on yourself than on the Son of God.

He alone is worthy of all the honor and glory as the King of kings!"

May your faith grow stringer every day!

Roné F.