Our kitchen includes a little breakfast nook with three window panels that extend the space out into the deck.  We have window blinds on each of these windows.

When our kids lived at home, it used to bother me that when they got up from a meal, the window blinds were always messed up.  They had backed their chairs into them, and not bothered to straighten the blinds.

I don’t know why it took me a long time to notice, but one day I realized the blinds behind my chair were just as bad as theirs.

Talk about a “blind spot”! 

A humble church is full of people who understand they have blind spots.

Jesus asked in Matthew 7:3, ““Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” 

A “blind spot,” by definition, implies that I don’t see it.  The point is not to name my blind spots – it’s to own the fact that I have them.  There are things about myself that others see as flawed or inconsistent with my faith that I simply cannot recognize.

Once I admit that fact, I find it much easier to deal with the blind spots of others.  I don’t dismiss their sincerity in following the Lord.  I don’t set myself up as their judge.  I don’t feel the need to straighten them out – right now!  I give room for the Holy Spirit to work in his time – willing to be his instrument or to stay out his way.

I’ve often said that Corinth is the most non-judgmental congregation I’ve been a part of.  That’s far from saying it’s the most non-judgmental congregation anywhere – just more aware of the principle of “blind spots” than other churches I have personally known.

Across the years I’ve witnessed this gift of grace in many settings at Corinth.  May it increase.