Welcome to this Daily PBJ devotional. Read 2 Kings 17, Nahum 3, and John 9. This devotional is about John 9. Now as Jesus was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth, and his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God would be displayed in him. While it is daytime, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world. When Jesus had said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud, and applied it to the man's eyes. Then he told him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, which means sent. So the man went and washed, and came back seeing. At this, his neighbors, and those who had formerly seen him begging, began to ask, Isn't this the man who used to sit and beg? Some claimed that he was, but others said, No, he just looks like him. But the man kept saying, I am the one. How then were your eyes opened? they asked. He answered, The man they call Jesus made some mud and anointed my eyes, and he told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and received my sight. Where is he? they asked. I do not know. He answered, They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been born blind. Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened his eyes was a Sabbath. So the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. The man answered, He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see. Because of this, some of the Pharisees said, This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath. But others said, How can a sinful man perform such signs? And there was division among them. So once again they asked the man who had been born blind, What do you say about him, since it was your eyes he opened? He is a prophet, the man replied. The Jews still did not believe that the man had been blind and had received his sight, until they summoned his parents and asked, Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? So how is it that he can now see? His parents answered, We know he is our son, and we know he was born blind. But how he can now see, or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him, he is old enough to speak for himself. " His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already determined that anyone who confessed Jesus as the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. That was why his parents said, he is old enough, ask him. So a second time they called for the man who had been blind and said, Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner. He answered, Whether he is a sinner, I do not know. There is one thing I do know. I was blind, but now I see. What did he do to you, they asked? How did he open your eyes? He replied, I already told you, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples? Then they heaped insults on him and said, You are his disciple, we are disciples of Moses. We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this man is from. That is remarkable indeed, the man said. You do not know where he is from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to the one who worships him and does his will. Never before has anyone heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do no such thing. They replied, You were born in utter sin, and you are instructing us? And they threw him out. When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, he found the man and said, Do you believe in the Son of Man? Who is he, sir? He replied. Tell me, so that I may believe in him. You have already seen him, Jesus answered. He is the one speaking with you. Lord, I believe, he said, and he worshipped Jesus. Then Jesus declared, For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind may see, and those who see may become blind. Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this, and they asked him, Are we blind, too? If you were blind, Jesus replied, you would not be guilty of sin, but since you claim you can see, your guilt remains. This is God's word. It's hard to imagine not being able to see. If someone is born with sight but loses his vision, that's going to make life very challenging. Imagine, though, never having seen anything. It would be difficult to live that way and even to communicate because so much of what we know we apprehend with our eyes. Here in John 9, Jesus healed a man born blind. an incredible act of kindness and grace. Before healing the man's vision, Jesus told the disciples that the blind man's lack of sight was so that the works of God may be displayed in him. That's verse 3 from the NIV. The miracle was undeniable because everyone knew the man had been blind his entire life. You can see verses 1 and 2 and verses 18 through 21 for proof of that. Yet the man's neighbors had trouble believing the miracle, according to verses 8 and 9. And the Pharisees refused to accept the miracle, as we saw in verses 13 through 34. Like all miracles, Jesus did. This one was designed to authenticate Jesus as the Messiah. See verse 22 and verses 30 through 33 for information about that. But the miracle was also designed to show the pervasiveness of spiritual blindness. In verse 5, Jesus said, While I am in the world, I am the light of the world. And in verse 39, Jesus said, For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see, and those who see will become blind. That last statement says that Jesus' work on this earth was to remove spiritual blindness, as we see in the phrase, so that the blind will see. Jesus' work was also to make people blind spiritually who could see physically. That's what verse 39 means when it says, so that those who see will become blind. The Pharisees, and many others, saw with their physical eyes everything they needed to see to know that Jesus was the Messiah. But they were guilty of sin, as verse 41 says, because they claimed to see spiritually and yet refused to believe in Jesus and worship him like the man born blind did in verses 37 and 38. And so it is with everyone in this world who hears the gospel message and sees it transform the lives of sinners but doesn't come to faith in Christ. We are all spiritually blind when we start this life. Only the power of Christ can remove our spiritual blindness so that we can see Jesus for who he is and believe in him for eternal life. Just as Jesus made this man see physically, he also has the power to remove spiritual blindness and to save sinners. So pray for the people you know who are unsaved. Ask God to open their eyes to the light of Christ, the light of the world, as you share with them the saving message of Jesus Christ in the gospel. And also give thanks to God for the gift of grace that removed your spiritual blindness and caused you to come to faith in Christ. If you found this devotional helpful, go to my website dailypbj.com slash subscribe, enter your email address there, and you'll be subscribed to a free email subscription. Then every day from now on, you'll receive an email from me in the morning containing a link to the daily scripture readings so you can be cued by the email to read God's word every day And the same email will contain one of my devotionals so I can help you apply God's Word to your life every day. This is completely free and you can unsubscribe anytime. So give it a try. Go to dailypbj.com slash subscribe. And please consider helping me financially on a monthly basis if you have the means to do so and would like to see this content continue. Go to dailypbj.com slash support for more information about that. Please share this with someone else who might be cured of their spiritual blindness by hearing the gospel. And I'll see you next time. May God bless you. Hope you have a great day today.