Articles
The Blind Guide
The Blind Guide
Skiing can be challenging enough all by itself, but imagine doing it while blind. Every year blind skiers hit the slopes. As you might envision, the only way this is possible is with a guide. The guide will call out simple directions like, "Turn left. Turn Right. Slow down. Stop. Skier on your Right." Without someone guiding these blind skiers, it would be extremely dangerous. Or even worse, imagine if a blind guide was attempting to instruct another blind skier. It would be a death wish. Thankfully, with the right guide, blind skiers can enjoy the slopes and have even been able to make it up to the Olympic level (e.g. Brian McKeever).
The thought of the blind leading the blind is a very unsettling one, as it should be. During Jesus time, He often labeled the Pharisees as blind guides (Matthew 15:14; 23:16, 24). What made this so harsh and provocative was the fact that the Pharisees claimed to see and understand God's law clearly! In reality, they were spiritual blind guides trying to lead other spiritually blind people.
We live in an age of severe religious confusion. Everyone claims to have the truth. Many people seem prominent, eloquent, knowledgeable, and appear to know God's law clearly, as the Pharisees did. And yet Scripture makes it clear that so many are on the wrong path (Matthew 7:13-14), are inwardly ravenous wolves (Matthew 7:15-19), and will not ultimately be accepted by God, even though they have done some good (Matthew 7:21-23).
Why is this the case? As Jesus continues, it's because many people do not honestly 1) Hear Jesus' words; they don't study Scripture genuinely. 2) Do/Obey Jesus' words (Matthew 7:24-27).
The end result of such people is an extremely tragic and terrible one. This is a blind guide. It should go without saying that we should want to do everything we possible to avoid following such a person. Scripture is the only true guide to our feet and light to our path (Psalm 119:105). If someone isn't using it to lead the way, something's very wrong.
So, this is where our job comes in. We must test the teachings we hear. We must confirm from Scripture that we are being taught the truth. We must not accept and follow something just because the person seems like an authority.
After all, we're talking about our eternal destinations here. Let's make absolutely sure we are heading in the right direction. Thankfully, God has promised that if we are seeking Him honestly, then we will find Him (Matthew 7:7-8).
