September 4, 2002
Nancy* tearfully shared that her father was in the hospital with pancreatic cancer. The doctors said he would live only a few months at most. Nancy asked people to pray.
In two weeks, the doctors noticed her father was not showing the same symptoms as he had earlier. They decided to do more tests; first a MRI scan, then a second one. The cancer they had seen with their eyes in surgery had disappeared. They could not explain it, and within days they sent the man home with a clean bill of health.
Nancy and her parents suffered considerably for a few weeks. The father’s suffering was both mental and physical. For a while, he was on life support. The two women suffered emotionally as they tried to adjust to his condition. Everyone was glad the suffering came to a happy ending, but why did God allow it in the first place?
The answer is found in another story about another man. This one suffered all his life; he had been born blind. The theology of the day said he was being punished by God because he or his parents had sinned. (In other words, life would be perfect if everyone behaved themselves?)
When Jesus’ disciples saw this man, they reflected this current reasoning by asking Jesus who was guilty, this man or his parents. Jesus replied, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened that the works of God might be displayed in his life.”
At that, Jesus spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes and told him to go wash in a certain pool. When the man obeyed, he “went home seeing.” Those who knew him were amazed. They could not explain what happened. The religious folks accused him of being an imposter, then threw him out of the temple. They were not willing to admit that Jesus healed him, or that this healing was a miracle from God.
While this story has many implications for our faith, most important to the topic of why God allows suffering is Jesus’ answer to the disciples. This man suffered, not because of his sin, or because someone else had sinned, but that by healing him, God was going to be glorified.
What does a person do with this story? We could ask a logical question: How would we know that God conquers sickness if there were no sicknesses for Him to conquer? Would the man have ever discovered the power of Jesus Christ unless he had been blind?
Bring it closer to home. In the above situation, Nancy, her family, and her friends prayed knowing the story about the blind man. We also know that Jesus is “the same yesterday, today and forever.” We know He can do the impossible all over again. He once fixed what medical science was unable to fix, and He hasn’t changed. While we cannot assume to know the mind of God and presume He will heal, we do know He can do it.
Nancy’s father was healed, not by prayer but by God. Even those who believe in God and believe that He hears and answers prayer shake their heads in awe when He does it. We must give Him glory for He is powerful and good.
Sometimes people do suffer as a result of their own foolishness. Sometimes suffering is a punishment for sin. Sometimes suffering is the result of someone else’s sin. But sometimes God allows suffering so He can do a miracle in response to our prayers. The only way to find out is to pray, knowing He has the power to do the impossible, and see what happens.
(* The name is changed, but the situation happened this summer!)
Showing posts with label faith tests. Show all posts
Showing posts with label faith tests. Show all posts
Friday, July 6, 2018
Monday, April 18, 2016
Being real .................. Parables 420
May 10, 1994
A waitress approached two customers, a small boy and his mother. She asked the boy for his order and he said, “I’d like a hamburger, fries, and a glass of chocolate milk.”
Mother said, “He will have Salisbury steak, vegetables, and a glass of plain milk.”
The waitress, eyes on the child, said, “What would you like on your hamburger?”
“Just ketchup, please.”
After the waitress left, the boy turned to his mother with excitement. “Did you notice that, mother? She thinks I’m real!”
Imagine yourself at a social event or party and no one listens to anything you say. How would you feel? Invisible? Insignificant? Unimportant? Hurt? Angry?
Anyone who is ignored in any situation, feels frustrated. Continued neglect can result in low self-esteem, depression, even violence or suicide.
People need to know some one hears them. That is one reason prayer is so important. Even if no one else hears or cares, when we talk to God, He listens. How can we be sure?
The Apostle John wrote three short letters besides his familiar “Gospel of John.” Apparently the early Christians also had feelings of uncertainty and worthlessness. They wondered if they really belonged to God and if their experience with Him was real. 1 John addresses these uncertainties.
John first wanted them to be certain their sins were forgiven and they had eternal life. He told them to test themselves by their attitude toward their sin. Did they pretend they were not sinners? Or did they confess their sin? If so, he assured them God forgives and cleanses whatever they confess.
He also told them to test how they responded to the world’s system. Did they give in to sinful cravings and boasting? Or were they more concerned to do God’s will? If so, he assured them this desire came from their Father, therefore they were part of His family.
A third test involved how they treated others. John asked if they hated others and “loved” them in words only? Or was their love real and demonstrated? Were their relationships characterized by kindness, truth, and obedience to God?
A fourth “be-sure-you-are-forgiven” test involved the inner witness of the Holy Spirit. If they genuinely believed Jesus is the Son of God, and if He actually was in their lives, the Spirit would assure them they had eternal life. They would just know.
Besides forgiveness and eternal life, John wanted his readers to be confident about who was who. Many claimed to be Christians in that time (as they do now) but were actually deceivers. True believers could test such “false prophets.” What was their attitude towards sin? Did they confess it? or embrace it? Did they accept or reject Jesus Christ as One who came from God? Did they continue in fellowship with proven Christians? or did they walk away?
John also wanted Christians to have confidence in God’s love for them. He reminded them, and us, that God proved His love by sending His Son to die for our sins. That alone should be proof enough, but there is more; Christians can prove God’s love by loving one another with the same sacrificial love. Since this love comes only from God, when we demonstrate it, we have confidence God loves us.
Finally, John’s readers are assured of God’s love because He hears them. “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us--whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of Him” (5:14,15).
As long as we belong to Him, and as long as our requests are on His menu, answered prayer builds our confidence: God “thinks we are real.”
A waitress approached two customers, a small boy and his mother. She asked the boy for his order and he said, “I’d like a hamburger, fries, and a glass of chocolate milk.”
Mother said, “He will have Salisbury steak, vegetables, and a glass of plain milk.”
The waitress, eyes on the child, said, “What would you like on your hamburger?”
“Just ketchup, please.”
After the waitress left, the boy turned to his mother with excitement. “Did you notice that, mother? She thinks I’m real!”
Imagine yourself at a social event or party and no one listens to anything you say. How would you feel? Invisible? Insignificant? Unimportant? Hurt? Angry?
Anyone who is ignored in any situation, feels frustrated. Continued neglect can result in low self-esteem, depression, even violence or suicide.
People need to know some one hears them. That is one reason prayer is so important. Even if no one else hears or cares, when we talk to God, He listens. How can we be sure?
The Apostle John wrote three short letters besides his familiar “Gospel of John.” Apparently the early Christians also had feelings of uncertainty and worthlessness. They wondered if they really belonged to God and if their experience with Him was real. 1 John addresses these uncertainties.
John first wanted them to be certain their sins were forgiven and they had eternal life. He told them to test themselves by their attitude toward their sin. Did they pretend they were not sinners? Or did they confess their sin? If so, he assured them God forgives and cleanses whatever they confess.
He also told them to test how they responded to the world’s system. Did they give in to sinful cravings and boasting? Or were they more concerned to do God’s will? If so, he assured them this desire came from their Father, therefore they were part of His family.
A third test involved how they treated others. John asked if they hated others and “loved” them in words only? Or was their love real and demonstrated? Were their relationships characterized by kindness, truth, and obedience to God?
A fourth “be-sure-you-are-forgiven” test involved the inner witness of the Holy Spirit. If they genuinely believed Jesus is the Son of God, and if He actually was in their lives, the Spirit would assure them they had eternal life. They would just know.
Besides forgiveness and eternal life, John wanted his readers to be confident about who was who. Many claimed to be Christians in that time (as they do now) but were actually deceivers. True believers could test such “false prophets.” What was their attitude towards sin? Did they confess it? or embrace it? Did they accept or reject Jesus Christ as One who came from God? Did they continue in fellowship with proven Christians? or did they walk away?
John also wanted Christians to have confidence in God’s love for them. He reminded them, and us, that God proved His love by sending His Son to die for our sins. That alone should be proof enough, but there is more; Christians can prove God’s love by loving one another with the same sacrificial love. Since this love comes only from God, when we demonstrate it, we have confidence God loves us.
Finally, John’s readers are assured of God’s love because He hears them. “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us--whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of Him” (5:14,15).
As long as we belong to Him, and as long as our requests are on His menu, answered prayer builds our confidence: God “thinks we are real.”
Monday, March 7, 2016
Spiritual blindness and spiritual light .................. Parables 402
January 4, 1994
People who are blind cannot see where they are going, where they have been, the significance of their surroundings, or what is happening around them. They are unsure what they trip over or bump into (unless they can touch it) and can easily become confused if given several conflicting messages about their environment.
While all that is rather evident to anyone who can see, the parallels to something the Bible calls “spiritual blindness” is not. For instance, a person who is spiritually blind has no idea of their eternal destination. They have difficulty understanding how their choices in the past effect their lifestyle now. They are not usually aware of the impact of the world’s attitudes and ideas on them. When they fail or are frustrated in their efforts to do things, they are not always able to identify the true reasons. If they hear too many conflicting messages about spiritual matters, they usually decide all of them can’t be right so opt for none of them.
Biblical spiritual blindness is more implied than explicit, more described than defined. Many of those who have it cannot see or understand the Kingdom of God. Some are not quite so void of understanding but are not interested or busy building their own kingdoms.
However, it is an affliction that affects everyone because at the root of every person’s inability to follow God or be godly is a spiritual blindness caused by sin. Since God says “ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” every person is, or has been, spiritually blind.
Some are unaware they are blind. Some have never heard how to recover their sight. Some know what must be done to see but prefer to be in the dark. Some have been assigned to permanent blindness. A few have been brought out of darkness into the light.
The Bible has tests for those who presume they are not blind. 1 John 2:11 offers the love test: “Whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.”
Another is the faith test, or total trust in Christ for eternal life. Those who have spiritual sight have realized they are sinful and have confessed their need of a Savior. A person who is still blind will claim they are without sin, thus deceiving themselves, another aspect of spiritual blindness.
The way out of such darkness is through Christ. He proclaimed: “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness” (John 12:46). It is through Him, and faith in Him that a person can not only see and accept their spiritual need and be forgiven, but given the power to break free from sin’s bondage.
Those few who can now see have not been given Light because they are anything special. In fact, they see themselves as the Apostle Paul did, helpless and lost, blinded sinners were it not for God’s mercy shown to them through Jesus Christ. Of them, the Bible says: “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8).
Christians rejoice that God said, “Let light shine out of darkness” and that God made His light shine in our hearts. He gave us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. It is in Christ that we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins. It is in Christ that we see the significance of where we are going, where we have been, our flops and failures. It is Christ who is the Light of our lives.
People who are blind cannot see where they are going, where they have been, the significance of their surroundings, or what is happening around them. They are unsure what they trip over or bump into (unless they can touch it) and can easily become confused if given several conflicting messages about their environment.
While all that is rather evident to anyone who can see, the parallels to something the Bible calls “spiritual blindness” is not. For instance, a person who is spiritually blind has no idea of their eternal destination. They have difficulty understanding how their choices in the past effect their lifestyle now. They are not usually aware of the impact of the world’s attitudes and ideas on them. When they fail or are frustrated in their efforts to do things, they are not always able to identify the true reasons. If they hear too many conflicting messages about spiritual matters, they usually decide all of them can’t be right so opt for none of them.
Biblical spiritual blindness is more implied than explicit, more described than defined. Many of those who have it cannot see or understand the Kingdom of God. Some are not quite so void of understanding but are not interested or busy building their own kingdoms.
However, it is an affliction that affects everyone because at the root of every person’s inability to follow God or be godly is a spiritual blindness caused by sin. Since God says “ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” every person is, or has been, spiritually blind.
Some are unaware they are blind. Some have never heard how to recover their sight. Some know what must be done to see but prefer to be in the dark. Some have been assigned to permanent blindness. A few have been brought out of darkness into the light.
The Bible has tests for those who presume they are not blind. 1 John 2:11 offers the love test: “Whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.”
Another is the faith test, or total trust in Christ for eternal life. Those who have spiritual sight have realized they are sinful and have confessed their need of a Savior. A person who is still blind will claim they are without sin, thus deceiving themselves, another aspect of spiritual blindness.
The way out of such darkness is through Christ. He proclaimed: “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness” (John 12:46). It is through Him, and faith in Him that a person can not only see and accept their spiritual need and be forgiven, but given the power to break free from sin’s bondage.
Those few who can now see have not been given Light because they are anything special. In fact, they see themselves as the Apostle Paul did, helpless and lost, blinded sinners were it not for God’s mercy shown to them through Jesus Christ. Of them, the Bible says: “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8).
Christians rejoice that God said, “Let light shine out of darkness” and that God made His light shine in our hearts. He gave us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. It is in Christ that we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins. It is in Christ that we see the significance of where we are going, where we have been, our flops and failures. It is Christ who is the Light of our lives.
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