John 9:1-23; 2 Chronicles 6; Malachi 2:17-3:18

“And they asked them, saying, ‘Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?’ His parents answered them and said, ‘We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself.’” (John 9:19-21 NKJV) 

This story begins with the disciples asking Jesus whose sin caused a man to be born blind – his own sin or his parents’ sin. Jesus told them to stop looking for someone to blame and take care of the problem. So, He healed the guy. Back then, someone who received a miraculous healing got a lot of attention, and the Pharisees heard about it. The Pharisees got right to the heart of the matter: this was bad news because the healing was done on the Sabbath. Obviously, even though the guy had been healed and had entered into society with no handicaps, this Jesus was bad news because it was done on the Sabbath. But to give the Pharisees their due, they kept investigating. They found the guy’s parents and asked, “if he was born blind, who healed him?” Mom and dad weighed their options, and then threw their son under the bus, so to speak. “No idea. Ask him – he’s old enough to tell you.” After all, their son might get kicked out of the synagogue for testifying in favor of Jesus, but that didn’t mean that they had to go down with him.

While I haven’t seen any blind people healed in these days, I’ve heard stories. Jesus still works. One thing I have seen, and experienced myself, is the way Jesus changes lives when people commit their lives to Him. When people I grew up with heard about my relationship with Christ, there were a lot of surprised people. As people made comments about how different I was, I had one of two choices: I could do an “aw shucks, I’m just doing better now,” or I could testify to the truth and say that Jesus had changed me and I was a new person in Christ. I hope that I was bold enough to tell the truth about my relationship with Christ, but you’d have to ask people who knew me before and after I came to Christ. What about you? Has Jesus made a difference in your life that others see and comment on? Do you use that as an opportunity to tell them about the love and forgiveness of God, or do you just say that you’ve gotten better as a person. Don’t “aw shucks” yourself out of opportunities to share God’s love with others. 

Lord, my changed life is a powerful testimony to Your work in me. Help me to show and tell others the truth about Your amazing love and grace. Let my words and my actions show Your power working through me.