John 9:1-2 -- As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
Yesterday the Lord took me in a surprise direction filled with joy and wonder. It's amazing the places you end up when simply following Him. Today, after talking with Him in prayer, we head back onto the road to continue our adventure in following Jesus.
Quick context check, Jesus is in Jerusalem, and just left the temple area where a group of religious leaders were about to kill Him for saying, "Before Abraham was, I Am.". The Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot had just wrapped up its seven days of celebrations, and it is now the eighth day, which was designated as a special sabbath afterwards.
Jesus is not rushed or shaken by the encounter with the religious leaders. He's simply walking along and sees the blind man. Before Jesus says a word, the disciples are quick to ask a question.
John 9:2 -- "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?".
It stood out to me that the very first question asked is about who's at fault or what caused this. They ask, "Who sinned?" instead of "Jesus, would you heal this man as I've seen you heal others?" or "How can I help this man?".
Instead of going to Jesus first to ask Him to help, they instead come to Jesus to help assign blame or fault. One thumb up for coming to Jesus first, but two thumbs down for wrong question and wrong heart.
Christian, how many times have you seen someone or a situation that needs Jesus, needs His Truth, Light, Life, Love, yet your first thoughts or even actions are about figuring out the how and why of it?
How about first thoughts going to assigning blame, assigning whose responsibility it is, or justifying why it's not yours to handle?
How many times have you prayed about something you KNOW needs Jesus, then when you feel it tugging at you to be those hands and feet of Christ, you silence it because you checked the prayer box over the situation?
I fully admit I spent many years of my adult Christian life this way. Pray about it sure. Get involved and confront it not always so sure. Figure out who it is that needs to handle it, then pray about them handling it, yup. It is sad but I thank God for getting hold of me and changing my heart through walking with Him every day in His Word and in prayer. The more I got to genuinely know Him, the more it changed me.
In the end it just seems to be part of our human nature to want to work out whose fault it is and who's responsible for fixing it, while leaving ourselves out of the lineup.
Beloved, if you're walking with the Lord every day, He absolutely will lead you to broken, hurting, lost, and desperate people and situations. Will you then turn to Jesus and ask, "Why is it this way, whose fault is it?" or will you look to Him and say, "Jesus fill me with your love, compassion, truth, and power, so I may bring You to it."?
No, we can't go out and handle every situation on Earth ourselves, but we can follow Jesus and wherever He leads us, be ready and willing to be His hands and feet to those in our path, our spheres of life, or those we see Jesus clearly guiding us to.
Don't take my word on things. Be the Berean, get into the Word and hear Him yourself!
You are loved. You are prayed over. You are not alone.
Comentários