James 1 Part 14: The Blinding Power of Sin

"Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls." -[Jam.1:21]

Just as wrath and anger are specific hindrances to hearing and receiving The Word of God, so also, sin, in general, places similar barriers before a potential hearer of The Word of God.
Willful sin, in particular, is a cancer and a rot to the Christian life and is a barrier to our right comprehension and reception of The Word of Truth. Our remaining prevalence of rebellion, that principle of maliciousness that remains, disagrees with His Word concerning ourselves. It refuses to acknowledge our offense, lest we should turn and be healed, it ignores the clear warning signs of danger we see in the mirror, it drives us to abuse our liberty as a cloak of maliciousness, it is a filthiness that stops the ears and blinds the eyes, it obscures and clouds our view of scripture and God's will, and it delays and withholds repentance.
A man or woman given over to their pride, is a man or woman who will wrestle with the scriptures to their own destruction.