In his book An Anthropologist on Mars, Oliver Sacks tells about a man named Virgil. Blind from early childhood, Virgil underwent surgery decades later and regained the ability to see.

But at first, like the blind man healed by Jesus outside Bethsaida (Mk. 8:22-26), Virgil had difficulty seeing. Although he could discern movement and color, he couldn't put images together to make sense of them. For a time, his behavior was still the same as when he was sightless.

Sacks comments, "One must die as a blind person to be born again as a seeing person. It is the interim, the limbo . . . that is so terrible."

That comment echoes Paul's teaching about burying our old, dead selves to walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4). It is a dramatic spiritual change that may bring a time of difficult adjustment. Ingrained habits and attitudes may hang on like withered leaves in autumn.

To overcome sin, we must remember that it is no longer our master (v.11), and we are to refuse to let it reign in our lives (v.12). Instead, we are to offer ourselves to God as "alive from the dead" (v.13). As we take these steps, our spiritual blindness will become a thing of the past, and we will learn to see Jesus more clearly.  — Vernon C. Grounds