We Get To Choose

August 10, 2016

We Get To Choose

When Jesus heard what had happened, he found the man and asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” The man answered, “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.

John  9:35-38

The response of the formerly blind man’s neighbors, family and many of the Pharisees proves that often it takes as much work to not believe as it does to believe. While some of the Pharisees said that only through the power of God working through a righteous person could such miracles be performed, most of the others looked for any excuse they could find for not believing in Jesus.

Underlying all the responses to Jesus’ healing of the blind man is the issue of expectations. The people did not have an expectation that faith in God would change lives.  Accordingly, they were astonished when confronted with such a significant change in the man’s life. They looked for a way to explain the change away, or at least to minimize it.

Jesus initiated the healing of the man blind from birth. The man didn’t ask to be healed, and he made no confession of faith. There are indeed times when God takes the first step, when God goes where God has not been invited. God is sovereign and demonstrates His grace and power when and where He chooses.

When God demonstrates His grace, a response is required. The man, who had been blind, after hearing Jesus’ affirmation that he was the Messiah, chose to believe. The Pharisees chose to disbelieve.

I believe God reveals His grace and sovereign power each and every day. Our daily prayer can be as simple as, “Lord, give me eyes to see your hand at work.” When we see his hand, we then get to choose whether we want to trust his heart, or if we would rather stay blind.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.