Ignorance is the lack of knowledge and failing to learn new information. Blindness is a visual impairment and a lack of perception. To some degree or another, we all have personal blind spots that keep us from perceiving the grace and truth accurately that can set us free. Instead of change and growth, we bump into walls and barriers because we are blind to see our defects and areas that need work. Helen Keller once said that the saddest thing in life is a person who has sight but is blind. A common form of blindness is first learning to take out the log out of your own eye before you take out the speck of dust out from your neighbor’s eye. It seems we have 20/20 vision in seeing the faults of others. When it comes to seeing our own faults, we are as blind as a bat. (Mathew 7:3-5). The Bible tells us to renew our mind so we can know the perfect will of God (Romans 12:2). There are principles God created to show us how things work within His kingdom. The following three principles are a call of action to overcoming the wall of blind ignorance.
Get awareness: Sometimes we think we have it all together and we start to become comfortable with the ways things are. As long as we do the same things over and over, not allowing new people to speak truth into our lives, not trying on new ways of living or looking at ourselves, we will continue to miss the best of what God has for us. We don’t realize we need help until we open our lives to receiving help. Awareness is about getting the help you need. Sometimes you don’t know you need help until you get help. “Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning” (Proverbs 9:9).
Seek reality and truth: We all have blind spots when it comes to seeing ourselves. In some cases we don’t fully grasp the reality of our lives because we have no one willing to tell us the truth about ourselves. In other cases we blind ourselves to the truth so we won’t have to go through uncomfortable changes. Take the initiative to get information about your issues from God and others. The obedient mind seeks reality. John 8:31-32 tells us if we follow the teachings of Christ, we will come to know the truth, and we come to know the truth when we act on it. That’s when the truth becomes part of us and sets us free. You need to find where you are weak, broken, or immature. Ask God to search you (Psalm 139:23-24), using His presence, truth, circumstances, or other people. Take the initiative to face what you have been afraid to know.
Think it and do it: It would be natural to think the way around the wall of blind ignorance is knowledge only but that is not the case. Along with seeking reality and truth that sets us free, obedience is also the key to overcoming the walls of blind ignorance. “Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord” (Psalm 16:20). To know God’s will we have to do more than just read the Bible; we have to do what it says. Acting on truth removes the walls we bump into because truth leads us past walls that blind us, into reality. Out of this new mind-set of awareness, a whole new way of living emerges. A way that is obedient to truth. People who are obedient to truth will begin to see they have taken charge of their lives. They have a new wider view of reality and they act on it in responsible ways. Seeing the truth and acting on it brings down the wall of blind ignorance.
What would a world be like if there were no hypothetical question? Without such things all must be in a state of certainty and where the is certainty and no reason for questioning there is stasis. A hideous vacuity of locked and frozen correctness, without the opportunity for error. Just as the idea the of sin presupposes that virtue is also a possibility, the idea of error allows for correctness, likeness and appropriateness. If there were no questions there would be no need questioners or for a question answerer.
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