2 Corinthians 4:3-4 (ESV)
[3]
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. [4]
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers,
to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is
the image of God.
I fear that we sometimes turn the victims into the
perpetrators. It happens in crimes, where the victims of a crime is told that
it is their fault they got robbed, or taken advantage of. It happens in rape
cases where women are told that it is their fault they got raped because they
dressed provocatively. And unfortunately, it happens when it comes to the
gospel. When people do not listen, we blame them. We too often claim the verse
where Jesus told his disciples to shake the dust off their feet and go on to
another town. Somehow we think that principle applies to individual people. If
they won’t listen, we stop loving them. If they are reactive or aggressive, we
decide they are unreachable, and write them off.
Notice that in these verses in 2 Corinthians quoted above Paul
did not write, “In their case, they are hardhearted and unwilling to listen, so
they don’t deserve your time. Move on.” What he wrote was they “the god of this
world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers.” You don’t blame blind people
for being blind. You don’t blame deaf people for being deaf. You don’t blame
people stuck in the bondage of sin for their shackles. You pray for them. Why?
Because of the next two verses.
[5]
For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves
as your servants for Jesus’ sake. [6] For God, who said, “Let light shine out
of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
We are proclaiming Jesus Christ. If we were proclaiming ourselves,
or our religion, or our church, then we would have reason to believe that
unbelievers will never believe. But that is not our message. We proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as his
servants. What did God say to that? “Let light shine out of darkness.” He is
the one that brings sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and hearts
softened to the gospel which had been hardened by the bondage of sin. It is God
who opened our eyes to the truth of Jesus Christ, and it is God who will open
the eyes of others as well. So we pray, and we watch for God to move in people’s
hearts, and when he opens their eyes we speak the truth in love.
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