We Are All Born Blind
A Sermon by the Rev. Calvin A. Odhner
Lessons: John 9:1-15; Arcana Coelestia 6669
One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. (John 9:25)
A
nybody here have an old sports injury? Injured when you were younger
and feeling it now? You may have said, “Oh, it will get better on its own.”
But what really happens? It hurts every day until we get it fixed! Right?
How about strained relationships? What happens when we ignore them?
Do they just get better?
Just imagine if most of your thoughts are not healthy right now and 5 or
10 years go by. Is this habit going to be more troubling later – even harder to
deal with? You bet it is!
If we choose not to improve ourselves we don’t really stay static, do we?
We spiral down. I call it the “hell factor.” If we give the hells an inch they take
a mile – unless you choose, unless you decide to do something to change that.
This is especially true of our spiritual life. When we keep our mind in
darkness regarding spiritual things we stay blind. We remain in a state of
ignorance as to the value of the Lord and His Word. This kind of blindness
makes us unable to see the things of heaven. If we die with this type of blindness
it can never be cured.
This morning we are learning about a blind man who was cured of this
problem by the Lord. Many who lived in the world at the time of the Lord’s
coming suffered from spiritual blindness. They could see perfectly the things of
the natural world, and they thought they were very learned and wise. Yet they
were spiritually blind with their false ideas, and the Lord knew that when they
came into the other world they would be unable to see the things of heaven.
It was because they had forsaken Jehovah. They had rejected His Word,
and no longer knew the God who is to be loved and obeyed.
So how can we prevent this from happening in our lives? How can we
make sure we don’t have spiritual apathy? That we just let things go so long
that we can never recover?
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