Really Getting It

-


Scripture

Matthew 20:34 Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they regained their sight and followed him. 

Observation

Jesus had healed so many different people and their responses were not always the same. Probably most went home to share with their families and loved ones what had happened to them. They may have been physically healed and yet failed to realize how much more they had received from Christ.
A handful probably became true Christ-followers, but not many, and that’s what makes this story unique. These people didn’t run home, they really got it — they understood the significance of what Christ had done for them. They immediately followed him.

Application

The question for us today is whether we really get it? Christ has done so much for us and we get to witness his activity in and through our lives on a daily basis — and yet, do we really get it?

The temptation is to go on with life and not to follow him in a radical way. He is ready and willing to heal us of our blindness, a blindness that does not allow us to see beyond ourselves and our personal needs. He wants to heal us so that we can see the way in which he sees. He sees the hurts in our world — the pain that leads to the protests and frustration seen in cities across America — and he invites us to be healed and then to follow him! Where is he found today? He’s found in the very midst of the hurt and the pain and he says — “come and follow me.” We may want the healing, but we may not want the following. It’s comfortable to go home and show others what God has done for us — but not to follow him where he and his presence are desperately needed. God in us — that is the hope.

Really getting it means we accept the healing that he provides and immediately follow him. Jesus never played it safe. He went to the places that were struggling and his presence brought peace. If we really “get” it — we will immediately go with him.

Prayer

Lord, may I follow you where you lead — today. Amen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Take Off Your Ornaments

-
Scripture: Ex. 33:4 ¶ When the people heard these harsh words, they mourned, and no one put on ornaments. Ex. 33:5 For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, and I will decide what to do to you.’” Ex. 33:6 Therefore the Israelites stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward. Observation: The people had sinned before God by making and worshiping the golden calf!  They had taken their golden jewelry — the earrings and other items they had gotten from the Egyptians and used them to create an idol.  Now, in an act of humility and repentance they were to take off all of their jewelry and ornaments.  It was a time of mourning over their sin and it included intentional action on the part of the Israelites.  Application: We don’t do all that well with humility and repentance!  It seems that we live in a time when we try to carry
Read more

Does God Value Boys More than Girls?

-
Scripture: Lev. 12:1 ¶ The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Lev. 12:2 Speak to the people of Israel, saying: ¶ If a woman conceives and bears a male child, she shall be ceremonially unclean seven days; as at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. Lev. 12:3 On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Lev. 12:4 Her time of blood purification shall be thirty-three days; she shall not touch any holy thing, or come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purification are completed. Lev. 12:5 If she bears a female child, she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her menstruation; her time of blood purification shall be sixty-six days. Lev. 12:6 ¶ When the days of her purification are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb in its first year for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. Lev. 12:7 He shall offer it before the LORD, and make atonement on her
Read more

The Advantage of Sanctification

-
Scripture: Rom. 6:22 But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. Rom. 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Observation: Two sides of life are presented here in great contrast.  One is a life of sin and enslavement to evil.  The other side of life is freedom which provides the advantage of sanctification (or holiness as some translate the word) that leads to eternal life.  The options here are a life of sin, slavery and death; or freedom, holiness and eternal life.  The advantage of holiness or sanctification is the benefit of the life of freedom.  Jesus died so that we might be made holy like him and this is something that is offered as a “fruit” or “advantage” right now.  The end is eternal life — but the living of life is that it can be lived out in holiness.  The next verse is really just an affirmation of the verse 22.  Sin will lead
Read more