Spiritual Blindness Refuses to Admit its Condition (John 9:40)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/22/2016 11:31 AM

My Worship Time                              Focus:  Spiritual Blindness Refuses to Admit its Condition

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  John 9:40

            Message of the verses:  We have today a very long title to this SD for a very short SD.  “40 Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, "We are not blind too, are we?’”

            Now we have to understand that the question that the Pharisees asked Jesus when looked at in the Greek language expects a negative answer.  MacArthur adds “Surely Jesus could not be suggesting that they were spiritually blind like the common people who did not know the Law (7:49)?  After all, they were the elite, self-proclaimed experts in the Law and devout disciples of Moses (9:28).”  “Some of the Pharisees near him overheard this and said, "So we’re blind, too, are we?’(John 9:40 Phillips).”  My thoughts are that they though too much of themselves and they knew that Jesus was telling them that they were blind to the spiritual things that He was teaching and I am sure that this bruised their egos.  The problem was that they refused to admit that they were blind, and because of that they remained blind.  They were missing the only chance they had to be saved from Satan and from damning sin, but they refused that offer.

            Warren Wiersbe writes the following on this verse in his commentary in a chapter he entitled “The Blind Man Calls Their Bluff.”  The listening Pharisees heard what Jesus said and it disturbed them.  ‘Are we blind also?’ they asked, expecting a negative answer.  Jesus had already called them ‘blind leaders of the blind (Matt. 15:14), so they had their answer.  They were blinded by their pride, their self-righteousness, their tradition, and their false interpretation of the Word of God.”  We will look at the answer that Jesus give them in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The Bible has little if anything to say about pride and it is something I pray about everyday that the Lord will keep me away from it.  Pride can get you into nothing but trouble, so I need to stay away from it and trust the Lord to care for all of my needs.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Stay away from prideful thoughts and actions.

Memory verses for the week:  (Romans. 6:1-4).  “1. What shall we say then?  Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?  2.  May it never be!  How shall we who died to sin still live in it?  3.  Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death.  4.  Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Jonathan” (1 Samuel 2:1-14).

Today’s Bible question:  “How many books are called minor prophets?”

Answer in our next SD.

7/22/2016 11:55 AM