Restoring Life: Part 2Sýnishorn

The Quick Fix

Are you looking for a quick fix? 

Think about this: are you expecting certain results from this surgery? If your results stray from your expectations, will it diminish your happiness?

Take the beggar in Acts 3. Having suffered from a disability since birth and unable to do much else, he spends his day pleading with those around him for money. Positioned outside the temple at his usual begging spot, he comes across two of Jesus’ disciples. Just like he would to any other passerby, the man asks the disciples for money.  

And it’s no change of routine when Peter, one of the disciples, answers that he has no money to give the man. We can imagine that this isn’t the first time the beggar’s plea has been rejected. Maybe he’s even already moved his attention from the disciples to scan the area for another potential patron.

The beggar didn’t even consider that there may be something better, albeit different, then what he was asking for! He was focused on the results that he felt would best serve him. He was looking for a quick fix to help him get by. A worldly solution for a worldly problem.

But it’s what happens next that changes the beggar’s life forever.

Peter offers the man true healing. He was able to give the man not what he expected, but much more than he could have ever imagined. Although he was still a poor man, he realized this gift was far better than silver or gold, he had been given the gift of restoration. He leapt with joy, praising God! 

Are you prepared to praise God even if the outcome of your surgery is different than you expected? Are you ready to embrace the plan of restoration God has for you, though it may be different than the plan you have for yourself? Is your happiness rooted in the results of this surgery or in the restoration God has to offer you?

Reflect on today’s readings and ask yourself where your expectations lie. In the hands of man? Or in the hands of God?