Prior to moving to the DFW Metroplex, much of my driving was on open highways and in rural and semi-rural areas, but city driving is a whole different story. There is a lot going on around you, and, as important as checking your blind spots is all the time, in the city it’s crucial. You really don’t want to end up in the same place at the same time as another car! In life and ministry, there are blind spots to watch out for as well. In this post, I want to explore with you the reality of blind spots and some ways to stay aware of them so we can avoid and correct problems.
Areas Where Blind Spots May Occur – Blind spots may occur in multiple areas of life and ministry, and the following are some of those areas.
Our spiritual life – Even those of us in vocational ministry may have blind spots when it comes to our spiritual well-being. We may not notice our failure to nurture our walk with Christ. We may not notice a subtle drift away from the Lord into an area of sin, spiritual dryness, apathy, or some other form of compromise. Pride, busyness, routine, and other tendencies of thought and action may blind us to trouble areas. What are some of your blind spots relative to spiritual life?
Our personality and relational interactions – It is often easy to see the need for correction in others and difficult to notice or easy to overlook our own. Is it possible you don’t notice your own short temper, impatience, rudeness, or some other un-Christian, unproductive, or sinful tendency in your manner of relating to others? Do you value people and treat them accordingly? Are you consistent about it?
Self-Care – Physically, emotionally, and intellectually (We already looked at spiritual and relational areas.) we need to take care of ourselves, and some blind spots have to do with not noticing a drift in some of these areas. We may not notice our decline in stamina, strength, or energy level. We may not notice mental laziness or the creeping burnout and loss of joy in our souls. These blind spots keep us from being at our best for the Lord and others.
Finances – We may have blind spots as we fail to realize harmful money habits developing in our lives or carried over from how our family of origin dealt with financial matters.
Family – In earlier posts, I wrote about the need to take care of our families, and some blind spots in our lives may center around our relationship to and care for them. How might you make sure you are seeing things correctly when it comes to your family?
Our ministry – It is altogether too easy to focus on the parts of our work we enjoy and end up avoiding others parts we do not enjoy as much. A blind spot in ministry occurs when we overlook or neglect some aspect of our responsibilities and do not realize it.
Suggestions for Identifying and Avoiding Blind Spots – In light of the relative ease of developing blind spots, and in view of the potential damage they can do to people and to our Kingdom effectiveness and God’s glory, here are some suggestions for identifying them so we can address them.
Cultivate self-awareness – It is too easy either to not be self-aware or to assume we are when we are not. Pay attention to who you are and what you do and think with an eye to spotting inconsistencies, compromise, and needed corrections.
Evaluate honestly and regularly – You and I need to maintain honest evaluation of our lives, ministries, motives, thought lives, and overall well-being. We also need to evaluate the steps we are taking and the habits we have in place for guarding and nurturing these areas of our lives.
Enlist the help of others – This may be any number of people and may vary depending on the area of life we are dealing with. Possible people include trusted friends of the same gender who serve as confidants and accountability partners, our spouses, a coach, or a trusted mentor. In the church, we have to be more careful with this, but sometimes older, mature deacons or other senior church members can help us. Finally, I believe it is possible to build a staff culture in which you and your staff can help each other avoid blind spots in some areas, particularly ministry responsibilities and at-church interactions.
Returning to our driving illustration, there are a couple of types of blind spots. Some blind spots occur because of where our eyes don’t see and how the vehicle is designed. Others occur because of obstructions outside the vehicle. At any rate, the issue is that there are unseen dangers or areas where danger may lie. The first step in dealing with blind spots is being aware of them, and the second is making sure we find a way to see into those areas to avoid and correct problems. When deal with blind spots and the dangers within those areas, we glorify God and increase our effectiveness.