March 29 Lenten Devotional "Spiritually Blind"

OPENING PRAYER. . .Loving God, Creator of all that is, here I am--today in this place that you have given me, with all the senses you have given me. Help me to use them to experience you on a deeper level. May I experience you all around me, open me to know more of your ways and know that your goodness surrounds me. Thank you for this time to be with you and to just listen. Amen

LISTEN. . .(If you are not familiar with the story of the Blind Beggar, you can read John 9:1-41. I have included an excerpt)  As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.  His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.   As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.  While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes.  “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
 His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?”  Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.” But he himself insisted, “I am the man.” (John 9:1-9)

CONSIDER. . . The story of the blind beggar gradually moving from blindness to sight and then sight to insight reminds us that conversion, too, is a process.  Jesus restores the man's physical sight, but that is just the beginning.  After Jesus heals him, he is asked what he has to say about Jesus. He begins by calling him a "man" who did a great deed for him.  Later, when asked again, he calls him "prophet" and then he finally professes Jesus as the "Son of God".

SO WHAT. . . Jesus, the light of the world, moves this man from blindness to sight and then more importantly, from sight to insight.

Lent is a good opportunity to reflect on your relationship with God and to have your eyes opened.

• Are you growing in your knowledge of and closeness to God?
• Are you living the Gospel more deeply?
• Are you moving and growing in your spiritual life?

If you are not moving forward, maybe you are stuck. Maybe it's time to get back to church if you haven't been there in awhile.  Or maybe it's time to find a church.  Or maybe. . .if you are going to church, you should join a study or a small group, somewhere that you can go deeper than just a sermon on Sunday.  This is the season to move forward and grow closer but you have to be ready to move.

PRAYER. . . Jesus, you are the light of the world. Shed your light on this day and my life that I might know you more deeply. Help me to see where I can grow closer to you and that I can grow in my spiritual life. Amen.

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