Looking in Our Blind Spots: We All Have Them

He was merging on the freeway when it happened. A large, gray SUV crashed into the rear driver’s side of my husband’s car, sending my husband’s hat flying backward. Is that breaking the law of physics? I don’t know.

The police asked if he’d looked in his mirrors, checked his blind spot. Of course he did, I thought. It’s a habit. But maybe he didn’t. Or maybe he did it too quickly. Whatever the cause, it was an accident. That’s what an accident is: something you don’t plan for or expect, but something that happens for some reason, and in this case, no one was ticketed.

Excuse me for spiritualizing and making an obvious analogy, but we can get lulled into our routines of checking mirrors and blind spots, only to be blindsided by sin. It happens because we have that perpetual weak spot through our sin natures.

I thought I checked my mirrors, we might say to ourselves while rummaging through the consequences of sin. I thought I was a better driver of my life. Or maybe even, I thought I was beyond mirrors and blind spots, after all, I’ve been a Christian for years.

Be on your guard, Paul says.

We might be tempted to say that our sin is an accident. I didn’t mean to say those words (and maybe we really didn’t). But we are without excuse. God has laid out mirrors for us to see our blind spots, to be warned of sin’s traps, and God has provided a way out of temptation.

The mirror of Scripture. 

The mirror of community.

The mirror of spiritual authority. If you don’t know who has spiritual authority in your life, figure it out. We are all called to be under some form of spiritual authority.

The mirror of the Holy Spirit.

The mirror of common sense. You were given a brain for a reason. God’s common grace is showered on us all through a general sense of what to do and what not to do. I know it’s not a strong mirror, but it’s present.

Know your mirrors, friends, and most importantly: use them.