God can reveal spiritual blind spots to us, but some people I know carried their fear and pride to their grave. They had surrendered their lives to Christ, but they were too afraid or proud to allow God to heal and cleanse them of these faults. I know they went to heaven, but they never experienced full joy and peace in total surrender to Christ, and some of their works were be burned up (1Cor.3:15, “If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet only as through fire.”) Please join me as I explore this tragedy and look at ways we can bring those blind spots into God’s light and healing as well as ways to handle the heart ache when others have these blind spots and then hurt us.
Joining loved ones, I spoke to two people who had spiritual blind spots but refused to work on them even though they were hurting themselves and others. At the time I did not understand spiritual warfare, so when these people expressed anger, I silently backed away. Our relationships with these people were never as deep and enriching as they could have been. Both people carried those sins to their graves. They never enjoyed the freedom of full release and forgiveness as well as reconciled fellowship. I am so glad they are in heaven, now free from those weaknesses and sins. But we, the survivors, still carry the scars of the neglect and anger those two people caused us, due to their unconfessed sins.
God continues to bring up sins to me so I can grow in my faith by repenting of those sins and then changing myself with God’s help. But I have had some blind spots for years, because God would not reveal more sins until I fully repented of the ones he had already revealed. So if I stubbornly cling to those sins, I will never get to grow and overcome the sins God has not yet revealed. Remember, God does not correct me to harm me (as I mentioned in an earlier post.) He corrects me to help me get rid of ugly sins that harm me, like thorns and infections.
I know some people today who have blind spots. If we speak about anything that relates to those blind spots, these people get angry and lash out at us. I asked my prayer partner about this and she said that reaction reflects guilt. On some deeper level, these people sense they are doing something wrong. People with blind spots may actually not want to face these specific sins. They will confess to God many sins. But admitting to their blind spot sins would hurt their pride and cost them something: emotional vulnerability from admitting to hurting others, and spiritual and emotional work. Some people consider the price too high, so they deny the sin exists.
If you would like to overcome spiritual blind spots, examine your life (Psalm 139:23-24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” & Lamentations 3:40, “Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the Lord.”) If there is a personal topic that consistently angers you when others bring it up, this may be a spiritual blind spot. Over the years, people may have asked you if you need to work on this area, but you vehemently resisted. Also look at your family. If your parents, grandparents or siblings have blind spots, you may have the same ones. The Holy Spirit can confirm the need to change, even if it would hurt, terribly, to make the changes.
The first step is to admit something seems wrong. It is very hard to admit others are right about something we have denied, possibly for many years. But people who truly love us never brought up our weaknesses to harm us. They wanted to help us and reconcile with us if we had sinned against them. If enemies bring up our flaws, they do so to attack us and shame us. While we can easily discount their evil motives, we would be wise to ponder anything that kind people have said, even if they say something our enemies have also said. We listen to what God says, and we work with the kind people, not our enemies. We cannot have a healing discussion with an attacking enemy, so even if they say something that may be true, they are not the ones to help us make changes. Safe people, along with the Holy Spirit, can help us recognize our weaknesses and then help us to change.
It is so hard to realize we have wronged someone, especially for a long time. But we must humble ourselves and admit to those sins, at least with safe people. It is often wise to not go back to harsh enemies and apologize, even if we wronged them, if those people can use what we say to attack us. We can tell God about the issue and repent before him. But safe people, even grumpy people (grumpy, not vicious & attacking people), who say we wronged them can receive our apology, if we realize we were wrong. We can better heal if we recognize a spiritual blind spot and then heal from it as we repent and reconcile with the safe people.
Remember, we are not looking at an occasional sin, nor a human weakness (like physical limitations) but deeply entrenched sins. I have a tendency to worry and feel fearful, but in itself, that is not a sin. It is what I do with my fear that either makes my action a sin, or just a weakness (that I tell the Lord about and then receive healing for.) We do not need to search our life for every flaw we have. We just want to find areas where Satan deceived us into thinking we were not sinning, but we were sinning (1John1:8, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”)
For example, someone may mention her nationality and claim she cannot help but sin (Irish temper, German coldness of heart towards others, drive for perfection, etc.) By the way I am part Irish and part German (along with some other nationalities) so this is not an attack on them, since I am part of those nations. Excuses do not stop our sins from being sins, but we might fool ourselves and then hurt ourselves and those around us. We are looking for patterns in our lives, including actions that bring us sorrow or shame. Please be open to let the Holy Spirit show you these areas, and then give yourself time to discover them (Psalm 26:2, “Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and mind.”& 2Cor.10:15, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”)
But what do we do if someone else has a hidden sin that she seems blind to it? Our world says we should mind our own business, but Scripture says otherwise. Ephs.4:25 says, “Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.” But we also must be warned that some people do not want to hear the truth. If our friend refuses to believe us, we can still pray for her to see the truth. We can ask God to convict her of the sin (if she is sinning.) Matthew 18:15 also says, “If your brother {or sister} sins against you, go and confront him privately. If he listens t you, you have won your brother over.” But the next few verses tell us we should bring more believers to help us confront the brother or sister, and even take him or her in front of the church if the person will not confess. But with spiritual blind spots, our friend (brother or sister too) may not be sinning against us, but against herself. Then we do not need to take our sister to others to confront her. If our friend will not listen to us, it is only God who can reach her.
In such a case, we must never discount the power of our prayers, and at times fasts too. Remember Mark 9:29, “Jesus replied, ‘This kind comes out only by prayer and fasting.” Sometimes we pray and fast, and see immediate results. This happened with someone I love, who had stopped going to church. He came home while I was in the middle of a fast and wanted to go back to church the same day. But with other concerns, fasting has not brought instant results for the change of heart in others. Yet fasting always brings me closer to God’s heart, and I am better able to pray according to the Holy Spirit. I trust that over time God will work on the people, for whom I pray.
Waiting is the hardest part when someone we love has a spiritual blind spot. We can ask questions to try to draw our loved one out, so she can see this error. Nathan did this when King David had sinned by committing adultery with Bathsheba and then killing her husband. Nathan told a story in 2 Samuel, chapter 12. When David was drawn into the story and angry with the bad man, Nathan said (verse 7) “You are the man,” and David repented. So if you can, ask your friends questions, related to her blind spot, even asking how she feels about the matter. Ask her if she feels she has control of the matter (or if she has victory.) Sometimes people are so blind, they will claim victory when they are clearly out of control. Some people are so hard hearted and hard headed, they are not yet ready to repent. Remember, Nathan waited a year before he confronted David about his sin with Bathsheba. God had to let David suffer the pain of his unconfessed sin so he became very uncomfortable before David was ready to confess.
One of the most painful things we can do is to walk away when someone is so hard headed she will not listen to reason. Then we have to let her suffer in her sin until she is ready to face it, even as the Corinthian church had to do with a man who refused to stop his incestuous sin with his step mother: 1 Cor.5:5, “Then you must throw this man out and hand him over to Satan so that his sinful nature will be destroyed and he himself will be saved on the day the Lord returns.” The church had to ex-communicate this member until he stopped sinning. We may be able to remain in contact with someone with a blind spot if that sin does not harm us and is not a huge sin, but we may not be able to discuss the sin with that person if she refuses to admit to it. We have to let her suffer until the pain of her sin becomes great enough that she wants to change.
Sadly, the two people I mentioned at the beginning of this post never changed. They did both cause me harm, but not severe pain; most of the pain hurt them. I was sad to see them make this choice, but I had to let them do so. God knows who will repent, and who will not. Our job is to ask God if we are sinning and then confess our sins. For our friends our job is to pray for them to see their spiritual blind spots too. Then we love them, and then we wait as we pray and fast. God can change us, and he can change them too.
I pray I have blessed you with this post. I am working on next week’s post which is a mixture of last week’s topic (God highly esteeming you) and this week’s post, so please look for next week’s post! I pray we will bless you with that one too. May you have a joyful week.