Blinded

Matthew 17 tells the story of a boy suffering greatly from seizures. The boy's father brings him to Jesus saying, "Lord, have mercy on my son, because he has seizures and suffers terribly. . . So I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn't heal him." After rebuking the disciples' lack of faith, Jesus doesn't address the boy's seizures but rebukes the demon.

The what?

Who said anything about a demon in the first place?

The father sure didn't. He simply was bringing his son to Jesus to be healed of his physical ailment. And Jesus saw beyond the physical, stepped into the spiritual, and freed the boy at a much deeper and much more profound level. He acknowledged the boy's suffering, yet diagnosed it from a spiritual perspective.

I am too often in the same boat as the father. The father is so blind to the spiritual side of things and can only see the physical aspect right in front of him. Oh, that the blind would see. I too often see people and simply assess physical conditions, forgetting that we as humans are profoundly spiritual. I find it easier to note the obvious, external aspects of their life, than taking time to pry a little deeper and grasp the spiritual truths. I am too blinded by my own humanity that I fail to see the intensely spiritual side of life.

I see it in my prayer life. I lift others up in prayer, asking Jesus to give them a job, heal them of a sickness, fix that, fix this, bring that, give this. And yet, my prayers are so spiritually poor. Do I bring people to Jesus in my prayer life, yet neglect to pray for their spiritual conditions?  Am I that blinded? That busy? That distracted?

It is too easy to go through life ignoring the spiritual aspect. Oh, that my eyes would be opened.