“It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.” – John 9:3
We are all familiar with projection equipment. We use it in worship in church on Sundays. We use it when we watch TV, scroll on our phones, even on digital signs. Our lives are projectors too. We either project something about us, our circumstances, or the power of God. And what we project can be high resolution or out of focus.
Jesus encounters a man who had been blind from birth. At that time the prevalent religious view was bad things happen to you because you or your parents sinned. I am not quite sure how the disciples thought the man could have sinned before being born but they believed this view of life. I can only imagine the mental and emotional baggage that must have weighed on this man and his parents. Jesus cuts through all that by saying his condition was not the result of anyone’s sins. It was so the power of God could be seen in His life when Jesus heals him.
No one, certainly not this man, nor his parents thought his disability was about the power of God being made visible through his life. But this man does come to trust Jesus, that the power of God was made visible in His life and he reflected this as he responded to others.
Which leaves me pondering about how I, how we, look at our circumstances. When things go wrong for us, when they go wrong long term, how do we look at it? We can complain, become cynical, depressed, discouraged, bitter, negative, struggle. But maybe we need to see our circumstances (whatever they may be) as an opportunity for the power of God to be seen in our lives. How we handle our daily circumstances will reflect the problem, our attitude, our trying to resolve the situation, or it can reflect our trust in the power of God in our lives. Over the course of my life I have been with people facing all kinds of difficulties; divorce, terminal illness, chronic pain, loss of employment and more. Some people only help us see that life is hard and a struggle and not fair. But there are others who reflect the power of God in their perspective, their facing the situation, their giving it over to God rather than just trying to manage it themselves. Some people testify to the goodness of God in spite of their circumstances. And some times, God intervenes miraculously for us to see the power of God at work in this way as well.
The question is which kind of person will I be, we be? I want to be that person who so trusts God that I see and live every moment of my life trusting and living by faith that whatever goes on in my life is so people see the power of God at work in and around my life
Father, gives me the eyes of faith to trust that everything that comes into my life, every single day, is so the power of God may be seen in my life!
JT
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