I have written elsewhere about the importance of spiritual sight, pointing out the fact that without it a person cannot attain living knowledge, nor can he minister effectively, nor can he experience genuine worship. In this present series, I will set forth six detrimental factors that can give rise to spiritual blindness, and consequently, to an overwhelming lack of direction and purpose. Every one of these detrimental factors should be well considered, for they can creep into our lives subtly and nest in our hearts nearly unperceived.

First cause of spiritual blindness: Hatred towards a brother

Let me introduce the first cause through the words of the Apostle John:

He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” (1 John 2:9–11)

These words cannot be more revealing. Love, God’s Love, will always sharpen our spiritual sight. It follows that the lack thereof will invariably attenuate its acuteness, and this, at the point of blindness.

To the question: How many brothers must a Christian hate to become spiritually blind? John answers: a single one. Now I am well aware that some brothers might make it difficult to love them. They might irritate or defame us, abuse or backbite us, disrespect or insult us, but that is precisely where love can be seen, for love doesn’t consist only in loving our friends, but also in loving those who handle us spitefully:

For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?” (Matt. 5:46)

Now, if I were to visit a congregation and ask: How many of you hate a brother? Most surely, a deep silence would invade the room. Yet you might have brother Allan arriving at the meetings at the last minute and sitting in the last row in view to avoid brother Carl, with whom he is in enmity. In fact, Allan might leave a few minutes before the meeting finishes for the same reason. And when the pastor confronted him about the situation, Allan’s answer was as sharp as clear: “If Carl doesn’t leave this congregation, I will.”

I think we all agree that such a relationship is closer to hatred than to love, and as such, will be a determinant of Allan’s spiritual sight. John puts it absolutely clear, it is love that engenders light, not rancor or antagonism: “He who loves his brother abides in the light” (1 John 2:10).

Second cause of spiritual blindness: A stagnant Christian life.

Let me explain what I mean by “a stagnant Christian life.” I am referring to a life of conformity in which the desire to progress has died. “This is good enough”; “what I have is sufficient”; “I will maintain the pace”; “I am doing ok”. In this sort of life, the longing to ascend has departed, and it often offers the most pitiable sight a person can see, i.e., the sight of a Christian in whom the sense of expectation has died. Usually, that Christian will go to church because he is a “faithful Christian”. He knows the meeting on Sunday will be as boring as the Sunday before, which in turn was as tedious as the previous ones, but since he is a “faithful Christian,” he will keep attending despite the boredom. In brief, it’s a life settled in complacency, saying: “The Lord will not do good, nor will He do evil” (Zephaniah 1:12).

Needless to say, that sort of lethargic state will never yield anything good. It is doomed to lead its owner within the frame of spiritual drowsiness, where meaning disappears. It follows that when a person remains in that state for too long, he gets progressively entangled in the web of neglect and begins to subtract the virtues he should be adding.

No wonder Peter exhorts us fervently to flee from such stagnation:

But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.” (2 Peter 1:5–9)

Here the apostle urged us to give all diligence to keep adding to what we already have, and this, in view to abound in what is necessary to retain acute spiritual sight. His words incite us to zeal, ascension, and progress, not to recession and stagnation, for Peter knew that such detrimentals could usher us into utter blindness.

Jesus refers to the same thing when He says:

A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.” (John 12:35)

The Good Shepherd is here urging us to keep moving forward lest darkness overtake us, for He knows the overtaking would leave us spiritually blind and therefore indifferent to spiritual reality.

I leave you with the words of the apostle Paul, words that contrast absolutely with the stagnant life:

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:12–14)

This mindset, among other things, can sharpen our spiritual sight and keep us revived and productive.

(To be continued)

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