Wiregrass Church
There are many products we buy, use, and put our confidence in without having all the information or fully understanding how they work. In the Gospel of John, we see a man begin to follow Jesus based on limited information. This man, who was born blind, said he only knew one main thing—and that one thing was enough to make him curious about who Jesus really was.
I think God is so present and I think God is so apparent that we miss God. We want God to do something spectacular to prove that He is. And I wonder if God thinks...
Like what?
Our brains are way smarter than our minds.
"No, something truly spectacular, like a miraculous healing!"
John 20:31 NIV
The Fifth Sign
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Healing of a blind man
John 9:1-2 NIV
John 9:3 NIV
Jesus teaches here and Jesus teaches in other places that pain and suffering can actually have a divine purpose.
Sometimes God chooses to display His power on the platform or the stage of our pain and our suffering.
John 9:4 NIV
John 9:5 NIV
John 9:6 NIV
John 9:7 NIV
So the blind man walks by faith and not by sight.
He chose to trust someone he could not see based on rumors (about that person).
John 9:8-9 NIV
John 9:10 NIV
John 9:11 NIV
John 9:12 NIV
John 9:13 NIV
John 9:14 NIV
According to the tradition of the elders, according to the oral, not the written Torah, you weren't allowed to do certain things on the Sabbath.
John 9:15 NIV
John 9:16 NIV
John 9:17 NIV
John 9:18 NIV
John 9:19 NIV
John 9:20-21 NIV
John 9:22 NIV
John 9:24 NIV
John 9:25 NIV
You want to understand everything before you believe anything.
Your heavenly Father, who is way bigger than your God box says, "Let's just take a baby step and believe something, and perhaps along the way, you'll understand more."
John 9:25 NIV
John 9:26 NIV
John 9:27 NIV
John 9:28 NIV
John 9:29 NIV
John 9:30 NIV
John 9:33 NIV
John 9:34 NIV
Willful blindness
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Refusing to look
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Refusing to see what can be seen
Doesn't our unwillingness to look beyond our God box make us look a little bit like the religious leaders in the story?
If you've limited God to...
the god of the box...
you will ultimately miss God.
We should be the most curious, the most accommodating, the most accepting, the most loving, the most compassionate, the most open-minded people in any room we enter.
We should not be afraid to gaze past the frontiers of our knowledge, past the frontiers into our ignorance.
Perhaps God is bigger than you thought He was.
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Perhaps God is bigger than you were taught He was.
It's okay to be wrong.
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It's okay not to know.
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It's not okay not to look if there is something to be seen.
John 20:31 NIV
He so loved the world that He gave Himself so that no one would ever be lost to God.
The good news is this: You do not have to understand everything to believe something.
Would you consider the invitation of John and just look. And perhaps one day, believe, or for many of you, believe again.
