|
|
|
|
Dr.
Philip Ney, MD
October
2003
-
Tears.
Tears, the soft rain that makes the seed of hope
grow into a lively plant of courage. It may take
time.
- Whose
Fault.
Seeing the blind man sitting by the road (John 9:1-39)
created the question, “Whose fault is it?”
We have a choice to pretend we don’t see the
blind man and walk away from him and his need, or
else, if we face him, we may want to justify our indolence
by blaming him or his parents. Jesus said “whose
fault” is not the issue. The question is a question
for everyone, not a question for him. The question
is, “What are you doing to help this man so
that he is well and God is glorified?”
Slow
Miracles of Maturity. God is much more interested
in the process than the product. God watches the
choir rehearsal more than He listens to the Sunday
presentation. He is much more interested in maturing
us than He is in healing us. God carefully picked
a blind man (born that way) (John 9) because He
knew he was a man of character. Jesus could have
healed him instantly, painlessly but he chose to
make it difficult, painful and prolonged. He rubbed
gritty, bacteria laden mud, made from spit and dirt,
on his eyes (not eyelids). Then Jesus told him to
take a hike and find some water to wash it out.
As he went along this man must have wondered just
as you have, “Why don’t you heal me
quick and simple, Jesus? I know you can. Why are
you making me it so hard for me?” I believe
Jesus would have said to the man as He says to all
of us, “Because I want you to grow up.”
After all, who wants whiny, immature friends? The
trial of his painful and prolonged healing brought
a man of strength to even greater strength. He is
one of two men in the Bible who publicly defended
Jesus. Accosted by the religious leaders of his
day, he said, “I know two things. I was blind
and now I see. I know He is a prophet.” The
other man who defended Jesus was the man on the
cross, and he defended Him against not only his
fellow criminal but the crowds beneath Jesus, “Why
do you say terrible things about Jesus? He is a
good man.”
People want quick gentle solutions to their pain
and problems. Jesus wants friends, mature friends,
and He knows that people will mature if they walk
with Him through the crisis. .
-
Honesty.
If a person can examine themselves, then they can
know and see others as they should be seen. If a
man can fully look into his own eyes, heart and
mind, he can look into the eyes of any person. He
can truly see them if he dares to see himself.
-
Healing.
My new friend John, the young forestry engineer
with a wife and two small children, was dying of
a horrible cancer. I asked the church to pray for
his healing. They prayed earnestly, but John quickly
died. Did God heal him? Yes indeed. God healed him
(kept his body alive) for approximately six months.
It was time enough for him to learn more about Christ,
to mature as a Christian, to spend time with his
children skiing and at Disney World. And then John
painfully died. Not fair, God. Remember this, God’s
healing of our bodies is always temporary. We all
eventually die. Even the miracles of healing and
raising from the dead that Jesus performed were
only temporary. Those people all died. Our perspective
is so warped by seeing our experience from our sense
of time that we forget it’s a split second
compared to eternity.
You may say it’s not fair that gracious, fun-loving,
Jesus-worshipping John got cancer and died so young
and so painfully while some miserable people live
on and on. Some people are born into wealthy families
and some into poverty; some into countries with
freedom and others with oppression. It’s not
fair, God. Certainly not from our perspective of
time. Although God created an amazingly beautiful
and intriguing world, He doesn’t want us primarily
to enjoy this life, He wants us to mature. In this
brief period of time, like in a uterus, He forces
us to mature so He can have interesting people to
talk to for eternity.
BACK
|
|
|
|
