Photo by dangermain, Flickr
One day, John the Baptist was particularly down. He began to wonder if he’d made it all up – if maybe he wasn’t the Prophet foretold, and maybe Jesus was just one in a string of “messiahs”. So, instead of stewing in his negative space, he sent his followers to Jesus to see if it was real. Matthew 11:4-6 tells us the result of that encounter:
Jesus told them, “Go back and tell John what’s going on:
The blind see,The lame walk,Lepers are cleansed,The deaf hear,The dead are raised,The wretched of the earth learn that God is on their side.“Is this what you were expecting? Then count yourselves most blessed!”
Do you expect to see the blind healed? The diseased cleansed? The dead raised? Do you expect to see God do miraculous things in your life and in the lives of those you know? Is healing just for special events?
In moments of despair, do you wonder if God is real? In moments of clarity, do you see God’s deliverance?
Recently, I was talking to a friend about previous generations of Christianity – when being a Christian was more about being right than anything else. Historically speaking, this happens when we are in the majority – we tend to see our way as the “right” way. Today, an invitation to Christ is not an invitation to the “moral majority”. Instead, it is an invitation to walk counter-cultural. To rely on God instead of ourselves, and to look for His deliverance in all the “ick” or “isms” of our lives.
So the question remains – if we are really relying on God instead of ourselves, what do we expect that to look like?
3 Responses
Thank you Kim, God bless you too.
By Judaism ,God provided us with an opperational book, do and dont do book,
A way to live good and influence good, A small act that would couse a chain reaction
of good in the world.
Its like buying a new T.V or some other instrument, If we read the instructions and follow, we would
have a t.v that works for years ahead with no problems, but if we say “oh, i know whats t.v is, i know how to open and close it” and some how we clicked on a different buton and the t.v is off, Than its up to us to bring a technition and fix the t.v OR read the instructions one more time and fix it proparly.
When people think some one els would do the work, they dont learn, dont change their ways, keep doing the same mistakes and all they get is negative reactions
God do not change, he is 100% good, we should follow
be blessed
Zvia
God created the worlds, plan it trilions years ahead
God created souls, saw each ahead
AND CLOSED HIS OFFICE
ALL THE REST IS ON US
God gave us trilions of ways to fix ourselves
I just hope i picked the right one, i dont expect for someone els
fix my sins,ITS ALL UP TO US
Zvia, thank you for taking the time to comment. I don’t think you are alone in your understanding, and it intrigues me to think of what God’s response might be. He obviously put a lot of work into creating the most perfect environment for us to grow – not just physically – think of all the beauty we are invited to enjoy. Every region of earth has its own special ecological balance and beauty. Hebrews 11:6 says that faith is the belief that God exists and rewards those who earnestly seek Him. In my experience, people tend to have trouble with one of those two things – they either have trouble believing that God exists, or that He is active and benevolent. You aren’t alone and God isn’t done yet. He will continue to show Himself real and active in your life, and on earth. Blessings to you.