When it comes to accessing published material, blind people have never had it so good - I know: I’m blind. This is especially so for those who are tech-savvy but even those of us who are less digitally tuned-in are better catered for than in earlier decades. When putting out written information, many organisations and publishers offer a choice of ‘accessible formats’ to meet the individual’s need. These are braille, large print and audio.
When we stop to consider, we all know that good visual perception is a wonderful thing and ought to be treasured whilst we have it. Picking up on this, Jesus applies it to our inner (spiritual) lives, by warning that there are none as blind as those who think they can see when in fact they can’t! He says that, by nature, men and women are born spiritually blind, unable to see the true God. As with physically blind people, the term ‘blind’ doesn’t necessarily mean no sight whatsoever, but severely incomplete, distorted or very inadequate vision.
When it comes to seeing God, people look for ‘accessible formats’. These may include seeing God in creation, in religion, in a specific denomination or in a particular teaching.
I have no doubt that creation portrays the wisdom and power of God, and that a few religions show something of the holiness or ‘otherness’ of God. Denominations and specific teachings can emphasise a particular aspect about God which can be helpful (though there is the danger of developing tunnel vision here). However, none of these ‘accessible formats’ are adequate in themselves for us to see the true God as he desires us to see him. So God sent Jesus to introduce us to himself.
Jesus Christ stands at the centre of history and declares himself to be our sole access to the true God. “I am the gate; the way; the truth. I and the Father are one. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus was not a syncretist; he did not teach that alternative religions were simply complementary ways of meeting God. He said that concerning God there is for us only one ‘accessible format’ and that he is it. This is the challenge that Jesus faces us with: to believe him or not.
A couple of windy days and many of the leaves on the trees around where I live have become unglued from their branches. All, that is, except our magnolia tree. Here they hang on with determination. In the spring the magnolia flowers first and then the leaves arrive somewhat late, so I suppose they just want their full life span.
The wind which causes many a leaf to fall is absolutely unpredictable. It may be a whisper or a gust, brief or prolonged and from any direction at any moment.
Jesus spoke about the mystery of the wind. One night he was in deep conversation with a man named Nicodemus, a religious minister akin to a Bishop. Jesus was telling him that a personal, valid and life-changing experience of God was dependant on the move of God’s Spirit, and no amount of earthbound religion could provide this. The dead foliage of this man’s spiritless religion needed to be blown clean away by God himself!
Jesus said: “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” “How can this be?” was Nicodemus’ earnest question. How indeed? When someone comes to personal faith in God, there is a mystery present because ultimately it is a miracle from God.
If we hear and feel within our own heart the wind of God’s Spirit, which is essential and can’t be predicted anymore than can the wind, our part is not to hang on to the branches of our doubt as do the magnolia leaves to their branches. This is why God, through the pages of the Bible repeatedly says, ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts…’ Rather we should yield and exercise our trust in Jesus. God has so fixed it, that if there is the fall of autumn there will be new life in spring. We can receive that spiritual springtime today.
Farmers are bringing in the harvest. On our travels in the countryside, we find lots of farm shops, often with integral cafes. Seeing the abundance and variety of food available to us reminded me afresh just how blessed we are. There are countless people around the world not so blessed. I know that some in our country have financial pressures, which reduce their food options but also there are those who can’t appreciate the available food because they have a poor appetite, due to physical or mental ill-health.
The Bible often uses the analogy of food and appetite, when speaking of our desire for God. Some people have an appetite for religion but not God himself; others an appetite for neither. The God of the Bible tells us that this lack of appetite or desire for him is the result of ill-health, not physical or mental but spiritual.
Our desires and appetites are dependant in some measure on our ability to appreciate and enjoy. As a child, girls were of little interest to me, but as a teenager it was a different story: my interest was awakened!
I believe that God is in the business of stirring our spiritual desires at some point in our lives. How and when this spiritual puberty or awakening occurs will be as varied as people are different. What is more important is how to respond to it when it does.
In the Old Testament God says: ‘ …you who have no money, come buy, eat and drink…without money and without cost’. God has an abundance for us and our willingness to receive is all the ‘payment’ he requires. In the New Testament Jesus sharpens the focus. ‘Don’t work for food that spoils but for that which will endure to eternal life.’ His listeners asked, ‘What is this work God requires?’ In effect Jesus answered, ‘Believe and throw in your lot with the one he sent,’ obviously referring to himself. He tells us that he is to be our spiritual bread, our essential sustenance.
We are invited to, ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.’ Psalm 34.