The Fall

Why I Wear Blinders

You ever seen blinders on a horse? As a kid I used to love riding horses. Maybe it was because I grew up watching “The Duke,” John Wayne, movies. I had the opportunity to take classes and attend camps learning how to ride horses. My favorite thing to do was go trail riding. Getting out of the barn, the corral and into the open land. It was great. However, if you’ve ever ridden a horse, you know how easily distracted a horse can get when they see some delicious clovers. If you have a particularly easily distracted horse it can be a real annoyance and you spend the majority of your time trying to get your horse to keep focus.

Blinders were developed to help block out the distractions. When wearing blinders the horse can only see what’s directly in front of it through small openings. It has been a very effective means of controlling the horses.

Spiritual Blinders

I, along with all of humanity if we are honest, willingly chose to wear spiritual blinders everyday. These blinders are little lies I tell myself like “I’m in control,” “everything is good,” “everything always works out,” etc. I deny the uncertainties of life, I push away my fears, and I function in a way to avoid the hurting going on around me. These are little defenses we have developed to protect ourselves from the truth that we live in a fallen world. There is so much hurting and pain in our lives and the lives of those around us that we could drown in the flood of issues.

It is the natural man’s tendency to deny the fact that we live in a fallen world. A world that isn’t the way it was intended to be. Some live an entire life without really seeing the world for what it is. In Christ, He has opened our eyes and removed the blinders for us to see that we desperately need Him because everything else is broken.

The Disruption Takes Place

The first humans, Adam and Eve, were created by God to be His Image Bearers. The Imago Dei, image of God, is a profound truth that shapes everything about us and our views of life. However our Edenic parents made a choice that marred the image of God that has been passed down from generation to generation. As the Serpent tempted Eve in the garden to eat of the one fruit the Father told them not to, she saw that it was good to eat and tasted it. That’s all it took for perfection to cease and the image bearer to be tainted with sin.

Sin is the heart attitude of removing God from His proper place and replacing Him with anything else. Eve saw that knowledge and understanding were desirable. She began to desire experience and knowledge more then pleasing God. What is your particular area of sin that you struggle with the most? Is it your job? Your family? Your sports? Your relationships? Sex? Pornography? Popularity? Gossip? Etc. Whatever you are willing to pursue in place of God. That is an idol and the misplaced affection is sin.

When Adam was faced with the same decision, he chose to please his wife and his own curiosity then to honor God. Sin entered in the world like a raging tidal wave. The ordered creation of the Garden was thrown into chaos. What was to be a life of tending the perfect garden in close relationship with their Creator, turned into the curse of hard work, pain in child bearing and rivalries.

The Extent of the Disruption

Within that first generation we see a brother slaughter his brother. Why? Because Cain was angry at Able’s righteousness.  Have you ever felt that way? You see someone living more righteous then you and for some reason you are just mad at them. This jealousy is connected to the sin nature that has passed on to every human that ever lived, except for Jesus Christ.

The generations that followed began to seek out their own schemes and paid no attention to their Creator. They began to build a tower called Babel, in order to centralize and make a name for themselves. This was in direct opposition to God’s command to multiply and spread throughout the world.

Violence and evil spread like wild fire. Mankind forgot about the Creator and the garden where they came from. All their thoughts were depraved and violent. Even to the point that God wanted to destroy all of mankind because of their wickedness.

Yet God had grace on one man, Noah, and his family. The flood came because of the spread of sin, wickedness and violence. But God made a promise after the flood with an reminder, the rainbow, that He will not destroy the world like that again and He hasn’t given up on mankind.

The World is still disrupted

Looking around at our world today, we see that we are indeed still living in a broken and fallen world. With the advancement of intellect, education, technology and wealth you would think mankind could overcome their predicament. However that is not the case. We still live in a fallen world. Relationships are broken. Wars are being fought. Selfishness is reigning.

We live in a world in need of a Savior and we are called to be agents of reconciliation. Looking to the past to remember that we are sinners and in desperate need of a Savior will keep us with our eyes on the prize: Jesus Christ. Look for ways to help bring hope and healing to the broken and fallen people around you today. Remember that many are wearing spiritual blinders because seeing the true condition will hurt too much. Don’t be surprised by some kickback, but longingly and patiently seek the spiritual welfare of those around you.