BLINDERS... Sunday

Devotional for 12/7/14

Blinders are the little flaps on horses' bridles by their eyes that keep them from seeing things to the rear and sometimes to the sides.  They are often used with the horse and carriage industry or with driving horses in harness competitions to keep them from seeing things that might distract or frighten them.  Blinders on hoods are also used on racehorses to keep them focused on what is in front of them, the race rather than the wild crowds watching and cheering them on.  

We've seen a lot of people going through life "with blinders on" lately.  Some would say that those rioting in the streets over black suspects dying when being approached by white cops have blinders on, because the protesters only see it from the narrow view of racial profiling, or police brutality, or a conspiracy to eliminate young black men.  Others would say those supporting the white policemen have blinders on, because they can only see it from the perspective that cops are good and trying to protect the public, that more young black men commit crimes, or that the suspects did things that deserved the force used by the police. Those blinders are formed by many things, such as the family we were born into, how we were raised, our experiences in life, and what the media chooses to focus on.  Perhaps both sides need to take their blinders off and see that there is some truth on both sides of the argument, to some degree.

Humans have had blinders on throughout history, all the way back to Adam and Eve.  When Eve was approached by the serpent, she could only see the "desirable" things that Satan spoke about instead of God's command to not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  Adam did the same thing when approached by Eve.  Because of this fall into sin, all people have the same propensity to see things with blinders on - falling into sinful actions by only focusing on the supposed desirable aspects and forgetting God's commandments and the unmanageable life results of our shortcomings, or even worse of not having faith and believing in God.  We all have our own blinders on at times.

Ever since God sent the Savior, there have been people with blinders on when it comes to accepting Jesus as the Christ. Even the chosen Jewish people did not all accept that he was indeed the promised one. The prophecies in the Old Testament have been pointing to Jesus long before his birth.  Even in the garden the words of Genesis 3:15 foreshadowed the coming Christ:

In this time of Advent may God take our blinders off so that we can be good witnesses and point others to Jesus.  May He help us to see the physical and spiritual needs of others and give us the desire and ability to help them.  At the same time may our own faith be fortified in Christ.

written by Jan Andersen