People my age grew up in a dangerous world. There was asbestos in our attics, lead paint on our windows and floorboards, and Red Dye 40 in our food. It is a wonder I am still alive.
Then, just to make things extra dangerous, we would play a game at birthday parties. A small child would be given a very sharp object, blindfolded, spun around like 10 times, and told to go pin the tail on the donkey. Who knows how many eyes were poked out during the violence that followed?
If they survived that then they would stuff a paper animal with candy, hang it from a tree, again blindfold the child spin them around a million times, put a baseball bat in their hands and told them to swing violently to try and bust the candy out of the animal with all their friends standing around without helmets to protect their heads.
Whoever thought doing anything blindfolded was a good idea? Well, according to the Bible all of us were blindfolded for a number of years in our life. It says so in 2 Corinthians 4;
“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. … For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” 2 Cor. 4:4-6
Before we trusted in Christ, we have learned that all of us were spiritually dead in our sins. We were not drowning as if there was some hope we could swim to shore. No, we are told we were dead in our sins and transgressions drowned on the bottom spiritually.
In this passage, Paul informs of us of another issue keeping us from being saved and uses the metaphor of blindness. Notice that it is not the eyes that the god of this age has blinded but it is our minds. He also says that in our blinded state it is impossible for any of us to see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.
So, our minds were blinded. All around us, there was light or information and knowledge about the existence of God but we did not see it. Everyone should be able to clearly see in the creation God’s invisible qualities or His eternal power and divine nature;
“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”
God’s invisible qualities of His eternal power and divine nature have always been there in the creation. Notice also in Psalm 19:1-3
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.”
In the beauty and majesty of the creation, God has been declaring that He exists and that He is powerful and divine. However, people do not see it. Romans 1 tells us that God has made it plain to everyone but we did not see it because people “…suppress the truth by their wickedness,” So internally, in our minds, even though God is screaming at us through the creation that He exists we suppress that truth because of wickedness. Some of the greatest minds of science have been declaring for years that there was no Creator but that it all happened from a great explosion. Never mind that in order for there to be anything to explode there had to be something that could explode. Their minds are blindfolded.
Here is the deal. If we recognize that there is a God, then we are not living in a random universe where everything happens by chance and I am in control of my own destiny. In that scenario, I get to be god. But if creation is the result of a real God who is almighty and all-powerful then I have to bow before Him, and I do not want someone else telling me what to do and how to live. So, the text says, we all suppress the truth of His existence in our wickedness.
Now in spite of this internal wickedness, there is an outer source that is blinding our minds to the light of the gospel. Satan uses our desires and our sinful nature, the brokenness of our parents and fallen world to further blind us to the truth of God’s existence, but here is the good news. Here is the gospel…
“For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”
Our Father does not want us to be stumbling around in the dark blinded by the god of this age and suppressing the truth in our wickedness. He drags us to Jesus. He rips off the blindfold. He shines into our hearts the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ into our minds and that is only the beginning. He forgives us of all of our sins and loves us eternally. Every day He has true life and abundant life for us to live as long as we walk in the light as He is in the light.
He wants to take us to the wonderful news of life with Him, where we can be healed to the lives of others. The god of this age tries to pull us back into the darkness where we want to hide in shame, where he can further wound us and devastate our life and the lives of those around us. The Holy Spirit within us is there and so is our sinful flesh. Who will you walk with today? The one who wants to destroy you and your friends and family…or the one who wants you to have life, joy, and peace?