Every day people make mistakes, some minor and some with serious consequences.  Recently, a woman nearly lost her vision when she tried to remove her contact lenses in the middle of the night.  She planned to use eye drops to help her remove the contacts, but accidentally reached in her purse and grabbed a bottle the same size as the one which contained her eye drops.  Unfortunately, it was a bottle of nail glue used to repair broken fingernails, and a single drop of it sealed her eye shut.  She was rushed to the hospital, where doctors were able to open her eye.

        “Words from Above” in the Bible tell us about many different kinds of mistakes that people made.  Bible characters and Bible heroes were not perfect, and they made mistakes.  David, described as “a man after God’s own heart”, committed adultery with his neighbor’s wife, and then tried to cover it up by having her husband killed.  Abraham, who is described as “the friend of God”, falsely said that his wife was his sister.  A common mistake that many people make today in their lives is that they allow their eyes to be blinded, not with nail glue, not from extremely bright lights, nor sparks from a welding machine. 

Like the woman who glued her eye shut did not realize what she was doing, many people do not realize that there is an enemy of God and enemy of our souls who seeks to blind the eyes of our mind.  The apostle Paul tells us in II Corinthians 4 that to those who are lost the message of the gospel is hidden from their eyes.  He explained in verse 5 that the “god of this world” has blinded the minds of those which don’t believe the gospel, and he is speaking about none other than the devil when he speaks about the god of this world.

        Paul concludes that the devil blinds the minds of people so that what he calls “the glorious light of the gospel” does not shine on them.  The devil knows that if the light of the gospel gets an opportunity to shine into the hearts and minds of people, he will lose control over them.  The apostle Paul says in Romans 1:16 that he was not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ because he knew that it was “the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes”.  The message of the gospel has the power to penetrate the hearts and minds of all who are exposed to the gospel message.  So, let’s not ever allow the devil to blind our eyes and our mind.

Larry R. Steffee is pastor of the Center Hill Brethren In Christ Church on Miller Road in Smithville.  Everyone is welcome to attend.  For informa-tion, you may email lrsteffeetn@yahoo.com.