BLIND SPOTS
(Message by Tanny Keng)
1. Blind Spots
a) Medical definition of blind spot is the small circular area in the retina where the optic nerve enters the eye that is devoid of rods and cones and is insensitive to light—called also optic disk.
b) The human eye has a blind spot—a small area on the retina, about the size of a pencil eraser, without photo-receptors. We usually aren’t aware of this blind spot because our brain fills in this blank area with the surrounded images, making our vision field appear seamless.
c) We also have blind spots or gaps in our perception that keep us from seeing the truth about others and ourselves. Because we are at times blinded to reality, we are immobilized and crippled by guilt and shame, anger and bitterness, worry and regret, and fear and anxiety.
2. Beware Of Blind Spots
a) Stubbornness
i) Many people hang on to stubborn resistance just as Pharaoh did in the days of Moses. Moses went to Pharaoh and asked to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Pharaoh resisted with entrenched stubbornness. So God sent plagues on Pharaoh’s nation to turn his thinking around. Imagine, if you were Pharaoh, you might have resisted Moses’ request to let your slaves just walk out of your country. But after the gnats, it would not have been a problem at all. If not the gnats, the flies surely would have turned your heart. One fly is enough for you. You know where those dirty, hairy little legs have been. But the gnats and flies were not enough to break through Pharaoh’s stubborn resistance. Nor were painful, infectious boils. He remained stubborn until Egypt was utterly devastated. But still he stubbornly resisted, finally to his own undoing.
ii) We do the same thing. We become kings of stubborn resistance in our own little worlds. We develop habits and hang-ups we will not even think of releasing. We hurt ourselves and those around us, allowing boils to fester in almost every area of our lives. Rather than looking for a way to remove these blind spots, we deny we have a problem.
b) Arrogance
i) We live in a world that encourages my-way thinking. We’re bombarded with ads that tell us to “have it your way” and “you deserve a break today.” Go out there and get what you deserve no matter what it does to others. Buy this luxury product because you deserve it. You’re entitled to be happy, so if you’re not getting what makes you happy, you’re entitled to find it elsewhere. And even if in our hearts we know our thoughts and actions are wrong, we rationalize so that we can continue to indulge.
ii) Self-centered people want from others what is “due” to them. They’ve staked out their territory, and they expect everyone to honor their boundaries and their rules. In short, they are stuck in an immature way of thinking. Mature adults learn that their adolescent, selfish sense of entitlement hinders their ability to achieve all that God has in mind for them. They broaden their viewpoint from self-absorption to include the needs of others.
c) Resentment
i) Are you angry about something in your life? Has someone hurt you, and you feel you have every right to remain angry and bitter? Have you done something so awful you cannot forgive yourself? What we are addressing here are not the petty little resentments that momentarily upset us from day to day but instead betrayals and deep hurts. The kind that has you believing that anyone who went through such an experience would feel the same way. If you’re carrying around anything like this, it’s as dangerous as radioactive material. And it can eat away at who you are at the deepest levels of your being.
d) Isolation
ii) Life alone is easier, but it’s emptier. Isolated from relationships that bring out the inner truth about ourselves, we don’t have to face who we really are. We remain unaware of the areas in which we need to grow. We stop developing the maturity and wisdom God wants for us. The disconnected life is based on an assessment that the world is unsafe, people are not dependable or worth the trouble, or their own relational skills are inadequate.
e) Ignorance
i) Psalms 119:29 issues a plea to God that we all need to echo: “Keep me from lying to myself.” We all do it. Even when we don’t lie to ourselves overtly, we keep busy enough to avoid looking at the true reality of a situation. So often we are ignorant of our own blind spots.
ii) The prophet Isaiah addressed the people of his day, hoping to shake them up so they could see the truth from which they had turned away. He upbraided them for their empty religious ritualism, urged them to turn from the idols they were worshiping, and warned them of the coming downfall of the kingdom if they did not change. He could just as easily have been talking to us today.
The End ...
1. Blind Spotsa) Medical definition of blind spot is the small circular area in the retina where the optic nerve enters the eye that is devoid of rods and cones and is insensitive to light—called also optic disk.
b) The human eye has a blind spot—a small area on the retina, about the size of a pencil eraser, without photo-receptors. We usually aren’t aware of this blind spot because our brain fills in this blank area with the surrounded images, making our vision field appear seamless.
c) We also have blind spots or gaps in our perception that keep us from seeing the truth about others and ourselves. Because we are at times blinded to reality, we are immobilized and crippled by guilt and shame, anger and bitterness, worry and regret, and fear and anxiety.
2. Beware Of Blind Spots
a) Stubbornness
i) Many people hang on to stubborn resistance just as Pharaoh did in the days of Moses. Moses went to Pharaoh and asked to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Pharaoh resisted with entrenched stubbornness. So God sent plagues on Pharaoh’s nation to turn his thinking around. Imagine, if you were Pharaoh, you might have resisted Moses’ request to let your slaves just walk out of your country. But after the gnats, it would not have been a problem at all. If not the gnats, the flies surely would have turned your heart. One fly is enough for you. You know where those dirty, hairy little legs have been. But the gnats and flies were not enough to break through Pharaoh’s stubborn resistance. Nor were painful, infectious boils. He remained stubborn until Egypt was utterly devastated. But still he stubbornly resisted, finally to his own undoing.
ii) We do the same thing. We become kings of stubborn resistance in our own little worlds. We develop habits and hang-ups we will not even think of releasing. We hurt ourselves and those around us, allowing boils to fester in almost every area of our lives. Rather than looking for a way to remove these blind spots, we deny we have a problem.
b) Arrogance
i) We live in a world that encourages my-way thinking. We’re bombarded with ads that tell us to “have it your way” and “you deserve a break today.” Go out there and get what you deserve no matter what it does to others. Buy this luxury product because you deserve it. You’re entitled to be happy, so if you’re not getting what makes you happy, you’re entitled to find it elsewhere. And even if in our hearts we know our thoughts and actions are wrong, we rationalize so that we can continue to indulge.
ii) Self-centered people want from others what is “due” to them. They’ve staked out their territory, and they expect everyone to honor their boundaries and their rules. In short, they are stuck in an immature way of thinking. Mature adults learn that their adolescent, selfish sense of entitlement hinders their ability to achieve all that God has in mind for them. They broaden their viewpoint from self-absorption to include the needs of others.
c) Resentment
i) Are you angry about something in your life? Has someone hurt you, and you feel you have every right to remain angry and bitter? Have you done something so awful you cannot forgive yourself? What we are addressing here are not the petty little resentments that momentarily upset us from day to day but instead betrayals and deep hurts. The kind that has you believing that anyone who went through such an experience would feel the same way. If you’re carrying around anything like this, it’s as dangerous as radioactive material. And it can eat away at who you are at the deepest levels of your being.
d) Isolation
ii) Life alone is easier, but it’s emptier. Isolated from relationships that bring out the inner truth about ourselves, we don’t have to face who we really are. We remain unaware of the areas in which we need to grow. We stop developing the maturity and wisdom God wants for us. The disconnected life is based on an assessment that the world is unsafe, people are not dependable or worth the trouble, or their own relational skills are inadequate.
e) Ignorance
i) Psalms 119:29 issues a plea to God that we all need to echo: “Keep me from lying to myself.” We all do it. Even when we don’t lie to ourselves overtly, we keep busy enough to avoid looking at the true reality of a situation. So often we are ignorant of our own blind spots.
ii) The prophet Isaiah addressed the people of his day, hoping to shake them up so they could see the truth from which they had turned away. He upbraided them for their empty religious ritualism, urged them to turn from the idols they were worshiping, and warned them of the coming downfall of the kingdom if they did not change. He could just as easily have been talking to us today.
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