Broken Glasses
What mighty praise, O God,
….belongs to you in Zion.
We will fulfill our vows to you,
….for you answer our prayers. Psalm 65:1-2a NLT
John 9:35-41 (<<click here to read the passage)
As I cleaned my glasses last night, I heard a snap. Believe me, it wasn’t a good sound. They have a special tension hinge at the temple which allows them to bend to some degree without breaking. Well, the temple didn’t break, but the special hinge did.
Having worn glasses since the 5th grade, I looked at them and thought, “I can fix these – no problem.” All I had to do was to take the screw out and replace the broken temple with one from a matching pair of glasses that I had.
I unscrewed screw A, then unscrewed screw B, and when I went to put the spare temple on…the screw wouldn’t go through! I couldn’t get the holes to line up! The tension hinge kept it pulled up in the temple and with nothing more than a simple screwdriver, I was beat!
I may have been half-blind, but I could see that fixing my glasses would take more skill and experience than I had!
Looking at this portion of Scripture, we see a man who had been physically blind from birth. Then Jesus touched him and because of his obedience, his sight was restored! He had 20/20 vision physically but spiritually he wasn’t quite there yet. Interestingly enough he was pretty close. He knew that it wasn’t just a fluke that he’d been healed. He knew that whoever had healed him had a connection with God. He just didn’t know who He was.
Read again his last statement to the Pharisees.
“We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who…do his will… If this man were not from God, he couldn’t have done it.” v31,33 NLT
Now Jesus comes to him once more and asks, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” v35 You can see his eagerness to go that one step more.
“Who is he, sir? I want to believe in him.”
You have seen him,” Jesus said, “and he is speaking to you!”
“Yes, Lord, I believe!” the man said. And he worshiped Jesus. v36-38 NLT
Much as I was with broken glasses, if we cannot acknowledge our own blindness – and in this case, we are talking of spiritual blindness – thinking we can “see”, in truth, we are blind.
I can’t imagine this formerly blind man had much education. But he knew far more than the spiritually elite who looked down upon him. Because he remained open and recognized how sin had truly blinded him, Jesus was able to give him spiritual understanding and insight.
The Pharisees, on the other hand, were shocked that Jesus thought they were spiritually blind. Jesus once more tried to get it through their thick heads that at this point it was only blindness (stubbornness and stupidity) that could excuse their behavior. But they were beyond that. They knew what was what. They had no excuse. Jesus could do nothing to help them because they had become complacent, self-satisfied, and blind. *
They said to Him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind [to spiritual things], you would have no sin [and would not be blamed for your unbelief]; but since you claim to have [spiritual] sight, [you have no excuse so] your sin and guilt remain. v40-41 AMP
Lord Jesus, once more I plead…open our eyes that we, too, may truly see! Amen!
*Life Application Study Bible New Living Translation
July 20th, 2021, Tues, 7:50 pm
Are You Blind?!
Father, there are times when I feel out of sorts. But even in those times I know You understand me, You are patient with me, and overshadowing them all You love me exponentially! Where would I be without You?!
John 9:1-34 (<<click here to read the passage)
Sarcasm is spoken fluently in my home. I’m not nearly as eloquent as Karen or Massey but at least I can catch when something sarcastic is being said…most of the time. Karen and Massey fire back and forth at each other routinely, and they love it! We have friends who do the same with them. It can be pretty entertaining with lots of laughter all around!
Reading through this entire passage, it’s easy to look at the man-who-once-was-blind and realize that the further this whole situation goes the more sarcastic he gets. And in this case, it is no laughing matter. At the beginning of the dialogue, he is pretty patient in answering questions about how he gained his sight. But by the time the Pharisees grilled him, then his parents (like he wasn’t smart enough to answer their questions – he was an adult for Pete’s sake!), and then asked him again, His patience is shot, and he isn’t shy about letting his sarcasm fly!
“Well, this is astonishing! You do not know where He comes from, and yet He opened my eyes!” v30 AMP
In many instances, sarcasm is easy to come by because – and I’m going to be a bit forward here – people can be just plain stupid! The Pharisees weren’t hearing what they wanted to hear so they, in their stupidity, kept asking the same thing over and over again. When they still didn’t hear the “right” answer, it becomes obvious that they weren’t really listening.
Immediately after the healed man’s caustic statement in verse 30, he continues in fluent sarcasm as if to say, “Are you blind?!”,
We know [according to your tradition] that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone fears God and does His will, He hears him. Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this Man were not from God, He would not be able to do anything [like this because God would not hear His prayer].” v31-34 AMP
His parents and others (…the neighbors, and those who used to know him as a beggar… v5) were afraid of being thrown out of the synagogue, but in the end, the healed man had had enough and didn’t hold back!
Lord Jesus, may we truly see the truth for what it is. It’s even possible that our religion might just get in the way of it. Open our eyes that we, too, may see. Amen.
July 19th, 2021, Mon, 8:33 pm
Don’t Be Late!
It was a beautiful day Father, from beginning to end. Good times of worship, a wonderful time with my family – spending the day together, good food, and safe travels. We are grateful for your bounteous provision!
********
We’ve heard others say, regarding those who are always late, that they’ll probably be late to their own funerals! Well, last week I went to pay my respects to a wonderful lady with whom I worked a while back. The service was at a funeral home a little over a 30-minute away. I had never really met any of her family, so instead of going to calling hours, I decided to arrive a few minutes before the service began. As I stepped through the rear entrance, I heard the officiating minister speaking. She was in the middle of the service!
I was more than a little confused as a funeral home representative quickly grabbed me a chair, sitting it right beside the youngest son! Of all places, I was sitting with the family! The rest of the mourners sat around the corner in the main part of the room. It was embarrassing but the minister continued and finished up – I had sat there for less than 5 minutes! (Something had come up with the family and the daughter had asked the minister to begin early. There is no way I could have known.) I spoke briefly with the minister and the daughter, looked at the pictures displayed around the room…and left!
It’s the thought that counts but in reality, I was late to someone else’s funeral and didn’t know it until I got there! Life is often that way and truly there was no harm and no foul, stuff happens. But where there is a serious problem is that we cannot afford for death to be that way! In life, we can roll with the punches and carry on. In death, that is it! There is nothing with which to carry on. It is final. There is no laughing it off and chuckling with friends about it later.
Death brings to an abrupt halt our life here on earth and we must be ready – spiritually ready – for when that time comes. There may be an opportunity to throw a last-minute confession heavenward, but there are no guarantees.
I searched through passages of Scripture in this regard and came across Ecclesiastes 7:2, which many attribute to King Solomon, one of the wisest men in the Old Testament. It reads,
It is better to go to the house of mourning
Than to go to the house of feasting,
For that [day of death] is the end of every man,
And the living will take it to heart and solemnly ponder its meaning.
As long as we have breath, we have the opportunity to solemnly ponder our life and pending death, for it will come. The only other option will be for Christ to return to take His children home and our acceptance of Him as the Savior of our lives is equally important in that circumstance, as well.
Our only hope is found in Jesus. He alone is where we must place our faith. He says in John 14:6,
“I am the [only] Way [to God] and the [real] Truth and the [real] Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. AMP
Seek Him today. He will gladly forgive if we but ask. Commit to following his example. It’s the only way to be ready!
July 18th, 2021, Sun, 8:48 pm
The Great Restoration
Father, thank You for the strength to mow the church lot and other physical things today. Thank You that I could see where I was going and hear that the mower was running. My senses and abilities are all gifts from You. Praise to You my Creator God!
John 9:6-7 (<<click here to read the passage)
I occasionally will flip through videos on Facebook. Now I have to be careful because there’s a lot of junk out there, but one genre I enjoy watching is people who know what they are doing restoring vintage toys, and old tools and machines. (At the end of this post is a video of a 1980 Mighty Tonka Dump Truck Restoration if you’d like to watch it.)
What actually brought this to mind were the notes from my Life Application Study Bible New Living Translation. First, here’s today’s passage.
Then he [Jesus] spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes. He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “sent”). So the man went and washed and came back seeing!
Now here is the note regarding verse 6,
When Jesus spit on the ground and made mud in order to repair the man’s eyes, he was working with original materials. Genesis 2:7 states that God formed Adam’s body from the dust of the ground. Jesus was demonstrating a creator’s awareness of the materials he first used to shape the human body.
Looking back at my opening prayer, it’s another one of those “not-a-coincidence” kind of things that God loves pulling together!
So many times in life we think we are “all that”. Physical abilities, financial security, solid relationships, and many other things, we just take credit for. Or we don’t even think of giving credit at all.
We are all blessed beyond measure! And we take things for granted every…single…day!
Take a moment right now and list off things for which you are grateful. Yes, we work for much of what we have but if we trace it back to the source, we must acknowledge that those abilities, those talents, those physical attributes – all of those original materials with which we were endowed – all of came from the generous hand of our Creator! And boy does He know how to restore us, rebirthing us into the creation He intended us to be no matter how far gone we might think we are. All praise goes to You, our Creator God!
July 15th, 2021, Thurs, 8:30 pm
It’s OK to Question
Repetition is not always a bad thing, Father. I feel that so often I thank You over and over again but without You where would I be? You are worthy of all my praise!
John 9:1-5 (<<click here to read the passage)
An oldie but a goodie!
A young woman was hosting a dinner party and served a delicious pot roast. One of her friends enjoyed it so much that she asked for the recipe.
Upon looking over the recipe, her friend inquired, “Why do you cut both ends off the roast before it is prepared and put in the pan?” The young woman replied, “I don’t know. I learned this recipe from my mom and that was the way she always did it.”
Her friend’s question got the young woman thinking and so the next day she called her mom to ask her: “Mom when we make pot roast, why do we cut the ends off?” Her mom quickly replied, “That’s how your grandma always did it and I learned the recipe from her.”
So, the young woman called her elderly grandma and asked her the same question: “Grandma, I often make the pot roast recipe that I learned from mom and she learned from you. Why did you cut the ends off the roast?” The grandmother thought for a while since it had been years since she made the roast herself, and then replied, “I cut them off because the roast was always bigger than the pan I had back then. I had to cut the ends off to make it fit.”
A few days ago, I wrote regarding the good things about tradition (Tradition) but it can be the case that things we pass along can be out of line – the pot roast story being a keen example.
In today’s passage of Scripture, Jesus’ disciples asked Him a question about a man born blind. “Rabbi…why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?” v2 NLT
They asked and Jesus quickly answered, “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins… This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.” v3 NLT
At the time it was a common misconception that calamity or suffering was the result of some great sin.
We live in a sinful world of our own making and because of that good things happen to bad people and unfortunately, bad things happen to good people, It’s the way it is, at least until Jesus returns and shortly thereafter, we get a new heaven and a new earth.
But back to tradition. It’s OK to question – even things of the church. No man or woman, no matter how righteous they may seem, is perfect. We can all make bad decisions. We can be swayed by power or pride or wealth.
Paul says in the closing words of 1 Thessalonians 5,
But test all things carefully [so you can recognize what is good]. Hold firmly to that which is good. v21 AMP
If something doesn’t seem in line with what you have held to be true, pray about it. Look into it. If someone questions you about something you hold to be true, pray about it and look into it, too. It’s OK to question.
If any of you lacks wisdom [to guide him through a decision or circumstance], he is to ask of [our benevolent] God, who gives to everyone generously and without rebuke or blame, and it will be given to him. James 1:5 AMP
July 14th, 2021, Wed, 8:08 pm