Jewel Shuping grew up with sight, but she has almost always dreamed of being blind. Yes, you read that correctly; she wants to be blind. At 6 years old, the thought of being blind made her feel more comfortable. As a teenager she started wearing thick glasses. At 18 she bought her first cane. By 20 she was fluent in Braille. Years later, she finally found a psychologist who was willing to help her fulfill her dream by putting numbing drops into her eyes to blind her, but it didn’t work. Shuping explained, “When I woke up the following day I was joyful, until I turned on to my back and opened my eyes – I was so enraged when I saw the TV screen.” A year later, the drops did finally take effect and eventually caused her to go blind. Shuping says she suffers from something called Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID), which is when able-bodied people think they are meant to be disabled (AOL)

It’s tragic Jewel Shuping was never able to receive the proper help to keep her from doing this.  There is no telling how many blind people would love to have sight.  Wanting to be physically blind is sad, but it’s even more tragic when some want to be spiritually blind. What’s especially heartbreaking is the majority of our world wants to be spiritually blind (Matthew 7:13-14). Jesus explains, “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed” (John 3:19-20).

See, the reason we have so much sin in our world and culture today is because people want to sin. They love darkness. They want their sins to remain hidden. They want to be spiritually blind and don’t want to be told what is “right” and “wrong.”  This is why the very things God has clearly condemned are now labeled as “intolerant” or “rights” or “choice.”

If Christians aren’t careful, we can walk right out into spiritual darkness as well.  Let’s never let ourselves get to the point where we like being in the dark and want to blind ourselves from God’s light.  So how can we keep ourselves out of the darkness?  Jesus continues, “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God” (John 3:21).  Let’s make sure we come to the light, walk in the light, and stay in the light (1 John 1:5-7).  We already have too many spiritually blind people guiding and giving directions.  It’s time to follow the true light and guide to our lives, God’s Word (Psalm 119:105).

Brett Petrillo