(you may wish to print this article to do the visual experiment)

Your Blind Spot.

You are partially blind! Oh, you don't think so. Allow me to prove my point. Look at the picture at normal reading distance. Close your left eye and look at the magician's wand. Slowly move the picture in and out. As you do, you will notice at a particular point the rabbit will disappear. Go ahead and try it, I'll wait until you get back. So, why did the rabbit disappear? The back of your eye, the retina, has a place where the nerve endings for the light receptive cells join the optic nerve. At this point there are no light receptive cells and hence a blind spot. When the rabbit is in this blind spot it "disappears." Fortunately the Lord placed this spot 12 degrees to one side. If it were located in the middle of our retina we would have a serious disability. Why don't we notice this blind spot all the time? When both eyes are open the mind combines both images into the 3-D view that we are used to seeing. In combining the two pictures the two blinds spots are covered by the information supplied by the other eye. Even when we only have one eye open we do not see a blind spot because the brain fills in the missing information with detail similar to that nearby.

Now that I have proven one blind spot, allow me to prove another. We do not see ourselves as we truly are. Jesus said we could easily see imperfection in others but miss it in ourselves. He said, ... "how wilt thou say to thy brother, let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's." Matthew 7: 4-5 A mote is a small speck of dust that we can see with 20/20 vision in someone else, the beam is like a 2x4 but we cannot see it. This blind spot is linked to the pride that is part of all of us (I John 2:16). We do not like to admit that there are imperfections in us. After all if we admit to our imperfections, we are admitting weakness and this is painful to our pride.

Since we have such a blind spot and since we should want to correct our own faults, how do we go about correcting our vision problem? There are two resources that our Lord has given to enable us to see ourselves in spite of our blind spot. The first is other people. Proverbs 27:6 says it this way, "Faithful are the wounds of a friend." A true friend will tell us of our shortcomings even though these may be painful to hear. Since we need others, God desires that His children be an active part of a local church. Those who claim to be Christians but find no time for participation in a local church, are at worst not real Christians or at best Christians who are remaining in blind immaturity. (If the preceding sentence seems harsh, consider it the wound of a friend). The second resource is the Word of God. Please take a moment and read James 1:22-25. James states that one who hears the word of God but does not practice it is like a man who takes a quick look in the mirror but does not do anything to improve his appearance. To be what God wants us to be, we must look long and hard into the mirror Word of God that perfectly shows us what we are like. Just as I am totally sure you will look into a mirror today to check on your outward appearance, be sure this day and every day, to look into God's mirror and make the corrections necessary. If a church and the Bible are part of your life, then your natural spiritual blindness is in the process of being healed. Make sure you do not continue in blindness!

Jesse Waggoner
Pastor of Small Group Ministries

©1998 Bible Center Church

Back To Main Page

Archive of Previous Articles