Let’s Brighten the World This Christmas
How do we move the light inside the church to the outside?
See what the blind man saw.
[Jesus] saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” —John 9:1-2“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. —John 9:3Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” —John 9:4-5After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. —John 9:6“Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing. —John 9:710 “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked. 11 He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.” 12 “Where is this man?” they asked him. “I don’t know,” he said. —John 9:10-12“The man answered, ‘Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.’ To this they replied, ‘You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!’ And they threw him out.” —John 9:30, 32-341. Rejection is acceptance.“Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ ‘Who is he, sir?’ the man asked. ‘Tell me so that I may believe in him.’ Jesus said, ‘You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.’ Then the man said, ‘Lord, I believe,’ and he worshipped him. —John 9:35-382. Criticism is success.24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.” 25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” 26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?” —John 9:24-273. Messy is qualified.“God does not call the qualified. He qualifies those He calls.”
“A man with an experience of God is never at the mercy of a man with an argument.” —Leonard RavenhillInstead of trying to change others, tell them how God changed you.
