Friday, March 24
Stan Reddel
Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see’, your sin remains.”
In these verses Jesus is addressing the Pharisees—they who thought they knew everything spiritual. They were sure they knew the way God worked and were blind to their own self-sufficiency and arrogance. They were blind to God’s love right in front of them in Jesus. They couldn’t see.
However, these verses are not meant for us to judge others but to look inward and to be self-reflective. I have attended church for 75 years, attended a Lutheran grade school, and a Lutheran university. I am pretty sure I am doctrinally correct and am well-versed in the Lutheran tradition. But this personal legacy makes me vulnerable to the “Goldilocks syndrome.”
People that are more religious than me are zealots and too fanatical (Bible-thumpers). Those less religious than me are borderline atheists and at best lapsed Christians. Of course, I have just the right amount of spirituality (not too much…not too little…but “just right”).
Oops, now whose pride and arrogance are getting in the way of God’s truth? Sometimes we just love the darkness and hate the Light. My default setting of selfishness is getting in the way. To paraphrase (I John 1:8), when we think that nothing is wrong with us, everything is wrong with us.
Dear God, I need your grace to have sight, to see, to humbly recognize my need for Jesus’ redeeming love. Amen
Encounters With Christ 