_BLINDED JUDGMENTS_
JOHN ix. 13-25.
Here is a ceremonialism which is blind to the humane. Its scrupulous
ritualisms have dried up its philanthropy. It thinks more of etiquette
than equity. It esteems genuflexions more than generosity. It values the
husk more than the kernel. It is Sabbatarian but not humanitarian. My God,
deliver me from all pious conventionalities which make me indifferent to
the ailments and cries of my fellow-men!
And here is a dense prejudice which is blind to the evident. "_They did
not believe that he had been blind._" A prejudice can deflect the
judgment, as subtle magnetic currents can deflect the needle. The film of
an ecclesiastical prejudice can be so opaque as to make us "blind to
facts." We do not "see things as they are." Our perverted eyes give us a
crooked world.
And here is a bitter violence which is blind to the glory of the Lord. "We
know that this man is a sinner!" And so it comes to that. Our judgments
can become so warped that when we look upon Him, "who is the chief among
ten thousand and the altogether lovely," "there is no beauty that we
should desire Him"! And therefore let this be my daily prayer, "Lord, that
I might receive my sight!"