Your Glorious Gift

12.22.2010

John 12:40 40 “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.”

John quoted Isaiah 6.10 in pointing out that the Jews of Jesus’ time could not see Him for who He was or believe in Him for what He was trying to do. The blinding and hardening are not because God did it, but because man in his nature cannot stand God. This is the magnitude of the Fall. Man becomes blind and hard because his nature is violently opposed to God and that is his only natural response. This is also why we need a Savior because we need to be freed from our nature in order to accept God.

Throughout Scripture this blinding and hardening is noted over and over, but we cannot blame God for our own response, nor can we approach God in any other way than by what He has established: faith in Christ. I’ve always wanted to blame God for this but I see that it is not God, but how I view God, that is the problem. And the same goes for every other human on the planet.

So like the 12-Step method, part of my coming to Christ is being broken to the point of admitting that my Only Way Out is by Him. And even that is an act of God. All I need do is look back on my life history and think about those things that caused me to accept God, or to reject Him. Things have happened in our lives that caused us to accept God – maybe at least in principle. Other things have happened that caused us to hate Him – or blame Him. But when the heart is readied it will accept because it finally sees the Only Escape. Some in their hardness and blindness will view that a trap; others in their new-found freedom will exult in joy over being finally released.

The Bottom Line is that the hardening and blinding we experience is not because of God’s doing but more because of His Being. Yet He always reaches out to blind and hard hearts to help them see beyond the Fall to the Truth. That’s worthy of a ‘Thank You!’

Father in Heaven,
Thank You for freedom and for the gift of belief; a gift I am convinced You offer to all humanity every moment of every day. Thank You, for Your relentless pursuit of my heart throughout all of my life, and all of my circumstances; and thank You, for welcoming me into Your Kingdom. May I continue to serve You by telling others about Your glorious Gift – I pray in His Name, amen.