Tag: blinded

Urgent command

“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

John 1:14  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Isaiah 40:5    And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Isaiah 53:2    For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.

Isaiah 60:1    Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.  For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.

2 Corinthians 4:4   In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.  For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.  For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 1:3     He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

“In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” It is clear there are those who have been blinded by the god of this world.  They are unable to see the grace of God and good news of Jesus Christ.  When you stop and think about it, we too were in this same state of mind and unbelief until God opened our heart and mind to see His grace, mercy, and love through the redemptive work of Jesus on the cross.   We never know when or to whom God will use us to draw a lost soul to Him.  Aren’t you glad that someone in the past spoke the gospel (good news) into your life?  Aren’t you thankful God opened your heart and mind to see it?  Telling others of the gospel of Jesus Christ is not request but rather an urgent command.  If you saw a person heading down a path with a hidden cliff that would certainly lead to that persons death, would you not get their attention, say stop, warn them of the danger, and tell them of the correct path to follow for safety?

Light shinning in the darkness

“How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?”

John 1:5  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 3:19    And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.  For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

John 12:36     While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.  Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him,  so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?  Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said,  “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.”

Job 24:13    “There are those who rebel against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways, and do not stay in its paths.  The murderer rises before it is light, that he may kill the poor and needy, and in the night he is like a thief.  The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me’; and he veils his face.  In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves up; they do not know the light.  For deep darkness is morning to all of them; for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

Proverbs 1:29    Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD,  would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof,

1 Corinthians 2:14     The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

God’s word is a light unto our soul and a path for our feet.  In our homes we have lights and as it approaches night we turn them on so we can over come the darkness.  We choose to turn the light on because we see benefit from being able to function as though the darkness is not there.  There is much darkness in our world.  Some of this darkness is right there in our face and some of it is hidden and just below the surface.  The light of God’s word pulls us out of this darkness, lighting up the path for our feet to walk on daily.  It lights up hope, joy, love, grace, mercy, courage, strength, peace, within our soul.  The light of God’s word – The light of God’s word – The light of God’s word…..  Reading God’s word turns on this light and the more this word is read and remembered and thought about the brighter it gets.  Can you imagine a person who would turn the lights on at night only on Sunday and then trying to remember what that light illuminated   the rest of the week.  They would be walking in darkness  fooling them selves with this false hope of remembrance of the light.  We need the light of God’s word in our lives each day if we are to commit to humbly serving, honoring, following, and obeying God.

Darkness to Light

Psalms 82:5  They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

Proverbs 1:29   Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD,

Romans 1:28    And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

Proverbs 4:19    The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.

Ecclesiastes 2:14   The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness

John 3:19    And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

John 12:35    So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.

1 John 2:11    But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Proverbs 2:6  For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;  he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,  guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints.  Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path;  for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;  discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you,  delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech,  who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness,   who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil,   men whose paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways.

Ecclesiastes 3:16    Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness.

2 Timothy 2:19    But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”

There is one thing that keeps coming to mind from these scriptures.  People without Christ walk in darkness and they have no clue they are.  In fact they do not even know what the light is or how it will help or where to find it.  We are to be a reflection of this light, able to tell them of the light, and where it can be found.  Being a reflection means our way of light ought to be easily recognized as different from the world we live in.  The way we talk, react, think, and respond.  Our lives should reflect joy, peace, wisdom, understanding, hope, love, generosity, strength, courage, and concern all in the help and name of Jesus Christ.  Is it possible, as christians, that we too choose to live in darkness or with the light set to very dim.  Are we drifting away to a life of complacency, neglecting our calling to be light unto a lost generation.  Do we set our expectations so low for being a follower of Christ that there is no visible differences between us and those lost other than going to church on Sunday?  I think we have fallen into and follow a lie.  That lie is “it is up to the pastor, preacher to tell the gospel and up to me to go hear him teach and preach”  rather than being a reflection of Christ and telling others of His great love, hope, joy, peace …….  Out of the abundance of our heart the mouth will speak.  If nothing is coming out and nothing can be seen differently in our lives then we certainly need to look at what is filling our heart.  Living to be a humble servant, honoring, following, and obeying God requires us to choose to be in His word with the desire and intent to know Him and how to serve Him and be able to discern His leading each day.  Our reflection of the light of Christ will grow brighter and brighter as we choose to be in His word and be used by Him.

Turned their back to Me, not their face

Zechariah 11:15  Then the LORD said to me, “Take once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd.   For behold, I am raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for those being destroyed, or seek the young or heal the maimed or nourish the healthy, but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.  “Woe to my worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the sword strike his arm and his right eye! Let his arm be wholly withered, his right eye utterly blinded!”

Lamentations 2:14  Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but have seen for you oracles that are false and misleading.

Ezekiel 13:3    Thus says the Lord GOD, Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!

Isaiah 6:10   Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

Jeremiah 2:26   “As a thief is shamed when caught, so the house of Israel shall be shamed: they, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets,  who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ For they have turned their back to me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble they say, ‘Arise and save us!’

Matthew 15:14    Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

We are given so many examples of the sinful nature we are born with and the consequences of it.  I can’t recall the last time I have heard preaching/teaching warning us of the consequences of a life that is not fully committed to God.  It seems as though all we hear is about God’s grace, mercy, love, and our place in heaven.  These are all true and foundational in our reason for repenting and turning away from sin to God’s redemption.  It seems as though through His great and steadfast love we come to Him for a moment in time and then live as though we are one and done on the decision to follow Him with our whole heart.  We give no thought to what it means to commit with our whole mind, soul and heart and live each day to humbly serve, honor, follow and obey.  Note the scriptures this morning -“As a thief is shamed when caught”….They know they have done wrong in their commitment to God.  Note the choice made – “they have turned their backs to me not their faces but in time of trouble they say save us”.   We are not to take our walk with God lightly.  This walk requires constant time in His word, courage, patience, faith, hope, commitment, heart deep desire to hear and be led by God.  Make God the first thing you commit to each day.