"For we walk by faith, and not by sight" (2 Cor 5:7) Going in blind! It is an expression used in military and business circles. It is used in relation to risk assessment and risk taking. To go into a battle field blind is to go into it without having a clear assessment of the enemies' strength and position. It means to embark on a military maneuvre without knowledge or clear intelligence of the other side's possible strategy. It is something that any good military general will avoid at all cost. Time will be taken to plan the attack, gather intelligence, assess risk and go in fully prepared. Going in blind is never an option. A business executive will do the same thing on a different plane. Before new products or services are launched, before millions of investors' money are sunk into a project, risk must be assessed; the timing has not be right. You can't leave nothing to chance. You can't invest people's money on a mere whim. You make sure you have all the facts. You keeps dossiers upon dossiers. You strategize and restrategize. You can't just launch in blind and start shooting blanks. It is never an option..
But here Paul was telling the Corinthian Christians that they are supposed to do exactly that. That when it comes to their walk with God they are to go in blind. You have to understand that this was contrary to everything the Corinthians know. Corinth was a cosmopolitan city and the center of commerce and business. Most of the people there were great business people who have spent their lives learning how to succeed in business, learning how to follow and monitor the facts, learning how to keep their eyes on things... on the trend, on customers behaviour, on the competitors projectiles, etc. And here someone was telling them to drop that attitude when it comes to God.
Why did Paul say that? What exactly does Paul mean by this? To be continued...