Blinded by Religion and Steeped in Self

This morning, I am in John 7-9 for my Mull time with the Lord.  Three chapters of repeated rejection of the Lord as Savior, Light, Son of God by the religious crowd who harassed, followed, and deceitfully sought to murder the Lord.  They witnessed the miracles of the Lord Jesus numerous times.  They were amazed at His teachings....they heard, but they were blinded by a self-righteous self-centered religious mindset that there was no ability to comprehend what they were seeing or hearing.  As I read, I have to painfully confess, that even though, I claimed to know Jesus as Lord, I have been blinded by self-righteousness at times. PRIDE is the most appropriate synonym for self-righteousness.

This same mindset has been evidenced lately.   I have watched a friend who was very steeped in religion and in self to perhaps reject the opportunities to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord.  It is painful to think of this one and to have seen over and over again the attempts to overcome self with religion and self-will.  It is grievous to know that because of Jesus and His shed blood, and the willingness to choose Him as Savior of Lord was not chosen because of blindness to religion and tradition.  Tragically pride, fear of what family will think, and blindness to religious teachings may have kept this one from the knowledge of eternal life and experiencing all the benefits Heaven affords.  

Thank you Lord for your very words in John 14: "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me."  Thank you for opening blinded eyes and for loosing me from the bondage of sin and self because of Calvary and your GRACE!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THOSE SEEING CAN BECOME BLIND

Image
John 9 is the story of the healing of the blind beggar.  Not only is it a marvelous story of the miraculous healing of the man as he is given his sight, but a sad story of the religious of whom Jesus said, "For judgment, I have come into this world, so that the blind will see, and those who see will become blind ." The religious have seen the miracle, even though it has taken place on a Sabbath, and they interview the man and his parents for their stories and understanding. I find it so thrilling that the healed man speaks so articulately and logically with the religious in their "interview" with him.  His statement, " Now that is remarkable!  You don't know where HE comes from, yet HE opened my eyes.  We know that God does not listen to sinners.  He listens to the godly man who does His will.  Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing." What truth he has spoken to the religious wh
Read more

REHEARSALS

Image
  I wonder how much time do I give to rehearsing God's goodness and how He has intervened in my life to "save" me from myself?  How alike the Israelites I can be, complaining about what goes wrong, how it affects me, and what I lack.  As a Christ follower, I have the Indwelling Holy Spirit to give me remembrance NOT of my complaining and grumbling, but of a recall of God's faithfulness to me.  It is recorded in Psalms 78 and 106 that " They forgot what He had done, the wonder He had shown them", "They did not remember His power--the day He redeemed them from the oppressor...", "They did not remember Your many kindnesses, and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea.", "But they soon forgot what He had done and did not wait for His counsel.", and "They forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt...". Contrast with me, God's remembrance: Ps. 106:44-46, "But He took note of their distress
Read more

ORDER AND DESIGN

Image
    I do not have OCD, but I do confess that I like order in my home.  Now that I am retired, I am not so much into spotless, but "picked up" and "kinda" clean. (Do not open drawers and closets!) I might go to more trouble when I know I am having company, but otherwise, I remove the clutter that seems to reproduce on its own.   When I began the reading in Genesis in January, I was again taken with the with the orderliness and design of God in creation, and have seen Him use Moses and Aaron to ORDERLY marshal the Israelites to move out of Egypt. How do you move some 600+ males and that is not even wives and children? Animals also?  They have been one year+ out of Egypt, and have been camped at Mt. Sinai where God has given them laws for their spiritual and physical welfare.  God gives Moses the design of the Tabernacle and Moses is able to bring together the workers to complete the Tabernacle.   The clip art at the top is the positioning of the 12 Tribes and the
Read more