“Then Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes again, and his eyes were opened. His sight was completely restored, and he could see everything clearly.” Mark 8:25
Without a doubt the preferred choice of communication in this modern day has become texting, instant messenger and email and although convenient, these platforms make it hard to express one’s true feelings and heart in a conversation. So often, true sentiment and heartfelt meaning gets lost in translation. Without hearing one’s tone of voice or seeing their body language and it can become easy to miss what’s really being said.
Jesus often talked about “having ears to hear and eyes to see,” and it’s obvious He wasn’t speaking of physical eyes or ears because we all have those. He was talking about hearing and seeing with our hearts. He didn’t want people to just listen to what He was saying, He wanted them to get what He was saying.
Jesus knew that one of the things that was sure to block one’s heart from seeing was pride, as demonstrated by the Pharisees in Mark chapter eight. Out of their prideful hearts, they demanded a sign from Jesus, causing Him to pull back and leave their area all together. Yet just a few verses before, He had fed over 4,000 men, plus women and children, with seven large basketfuls leftover.
While there were those whose hearts were open to the Lord and as a result saw His bountiful supply, there was another group whose hearts were hardened with pride and never saw what the others did. They never saw the miracles that the blind man in Mark 8 got to see, all because of their pride
In verse fourteen of the same chapter, Jesus told his disciples, “Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees.” Yeast being a symbol of pride and a pride filled heart.
Today, we choose to keep our focus on our loving Heavenly Father and ask His Spirit to help us keep our hearts free from pride, and most importantly “spiritual pride.” As we do, we can live in the promise that we will “see God” in of His abundant goodness.