Jesus calls us out of a life of blame, finger pointing and doubt.
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Previous DIG DEEPER posts on John
John 9 Summary
Jesus and His disciples happen upon a blind beggar. The disciples' reaction is to first sort out who's to blame for the man's condition, but Jesus points them away from that fool's errand.
After Jesus, who here refers to Himself as the light of the world, turns the lights on for this man who spent his whole life wandering in the dark, the clown show arrives in the form of the establishment Pharisees. Once again, the establishment is upset that Jesus infringed one of their man made Sabbath restrictions, this time by spitting on the ground and making mud in order to heal the man.
Contrast the comedic scene of the establishment's 'investigation' as to what happened with the simple demonstration of faith exhibited by the formerly blind man. The man certainly agrees with Jesus' claim to be the Son of Man, but then he immediately shows that it's more than just intellectual consent. He shows genuine faith by the fact that he instantly began to worship Jesus.
Dig Deeper
It's often one of the first questions that get asked whenever something terrible happens: is God punishing a specific sin with this disease / financial setback / death? One of the reasons that our minds are so quick to go to that question is that deep down we know that we deserve terrible things because we've sinned, so we just assume that all terrible things are the result of particular sins.
Certainly the fact that bad things happen in this world is a result of sin in general, but Jesus makes it clear in responding to the disciples opening question about whose sin caused the man to be born blind that there's no connection between particular terrible incidents and particular sins.
Instead, Jesus here tells us that all things happen - both good and bad - so that the works of God might be displayed (v3).
Keep this in mind the next time it appears that everything is going off the rails in life, that somehow, and in some way that you may never even realize, God is at work.
AAA Prayer :
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father God, who displays His glory and works in all things (v3)
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Echo what the blind man told the Pharisees in v31 - God's will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
