Verse of the Day 5/4

Verse of the Day 5/4

John 9:2-3  And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" ³ Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.   English Standard Version (ESV)

Can't you see today's media asking Jesus where He stood on just about any subject?  Trying to "reduce it" to one side or the other, right vs. left to further political purposes and opinions?  Jesus didn't get involved with it even, or perhaps especially with his own disciples.  He saw the situation before him as a problem to be solved rather than a source of debate.

Pastor James MacDonald writes, "  Jesus saw before Him a man who needed to be helped, a living canvas upon which to paint the love, power, compassion, and authority of Almighty God. Yet the disciples saw this same man as nothing other than an issue to debate. Even with the subject of their inquiry standing right there where he could hear them (he was blind, remember, not deaf!), they were painfully close to missing the whole point of what Jesus intended to do in this situation.....They needed to clean their glasses.

One of the reasons we sometimes don't recognize God at work in our midst is that we allow narrow thinking to block our view of His activity. Instead of staying open to the amazing things He's always doing around us in people's lives and in real-time, real-world events, we're too often focused on other things that we believe to be the "only things." Reductionism, this is called—reducing everything down to how it squares with our obsession over a few isolated things."

We should learn from this not to get caught in such debates, especially those that involve making judgments about others, looking for "someone to blame" (The Message) where there may be no cause of effect.  We should look on the situation and the people involved as a "living canvas" that God is still working on.  Perhaps we are here bring the focus to helping and healing and giving hope than we are to get caught up in a debate that does nothing to do any of those thngs.  Rather than debating or arguing over matters,  "We need to be energetically at work for the the one who sent" us here.  (The Message) 

--   In Christ,  Mike    Folllow the Verse of the Day blog at http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com  Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,  in accordance with the riches of God's grace.  NIV    

John 9:2-5The Message (MSG)

True Blindness

9 ^1-2 Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked, "Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?"

^3-5 Jesus said, "You're asking the wrong question. You're looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do.  We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, working while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over. For as long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world's Light."