Surprised by Temptation’s Blind Spots

Traveling down the interstate, the time had come to change lanes. Slower traffic in the right lane was trying patience and lowering gas mileage. The rear view mirror appeared to signal all was clear for switching to the faster-paced left lane.

A slight nudge toward the left lane preceded a glance into the driver’s side rear view mirror. All systems seemed to say, “Go!” One last check point before venturing over. A twist of the neck. Safe driving habits hang around, even when there wasn’t a reason.

Or was there? In the left lane, the hood of a compact car was parallel with the back door and trunk of my car. Had either car veered an inch to the next lane … CRASH !

Blind spots result in great loss.

Both mirrors contain a blind spot – a piece of reality that was not captured in the reflections.

Auto accidents are caused by blind spots more frequently than you may realize. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, roughly 840,000 blind spot accidents happen every year. The statistics are a bit fluid, but it is estimated that blind spots account for half of the accidents on the roads.

The statistics around crashes in the United States alone are startling. Over 37,000 people die in road crashes each year, over 1600 are children under the each of fifteen. An additional 2.35 million are injured or disabled.  Road crashes cost the United States $230.6 billion per year, or an average of $820 per person.

Spiritual blind spots are just as large a problem.

It hit me – pun intended – that we develop blind spots when we are looking out for those pesky temptations to sin. We think everything is going to be fine and then SMASH we have been broadsided by a temptation we can’t avoid. Four things struck me – rolls eyes – about those blind spots.

 

1. Blind spots occur because we neglect to look. We are busy. Life travels fast. We move and try to react later. How are there blind spots around temptation? Take something simple. Every morning I take the same route to work. I see the same billboards, I pass the same buildings. One on the right houses Dunkin’ Donuts. Temptation? Enough said.

 

2. Blind spots occur because of our limited perspective. We don’t see the entire picture. We only understand a piece of the depths of the spiritual battle between good and evil. We only catch a glimpse of the effect of sins on our lives and the lives of others.

 

3. Blind spots occur because we are deceived. Sometimes we are deceived by our own frailties, but we need to always be aware that Satan isn’t called the Deceiver for nothing.

 

4. Blind spots occur because it is inconvenient to give a more detailed look. It takes time and thought to look closely. It take strength and energy to see a temptation and to figure a way to avoid it. It takes thought and purpose – real discipline – to know  ourselves well enough to see the temptations before they hit us.

The speck and the log.

Jesus spoke about blind spots. ³ Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? ⁴ Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye (Matthew 7:3-5 ESV).

If you are looking for a way to sacrifice, try sacrificing the speed of life for the ability to eliminate some of temptation’s blind spots in your life.