I believe in Jesus with every cell He created in me. I know He\u2019s the only hope for those who are adrift from His love and truth. And yet, when it\u2019s time to share the gospel, sometimes my palms start to sweat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What if I create more confusion than clarity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What if I get snagged on questions about the finer points of the gospel message?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What then?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tucked here in John 9, we find a remarkable story about hope, healing, and the beautiful simplicity of the gospel. At the center of the story is a man born blind. Surely, every time he glanced toward something his eyes could not see, he was reminded of his brokenness and need for a healer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we come face to face with our inability to be holy as God is holy or to \u201cfix\u201d ourselves, we realize our need for a savior. We try to go a day without sinning and fail before our feet hit the floor, once again realizing just how broken we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then the God who healed this man\u2019s eyes lifts ours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After his miraculous healing, the man was pressed by the religious establishment about his encounter with Jesus. He didn\u2019t debate the points of the law or drop a truth bomb, leaving the room in stunned silence. He simply told his story. Pay attention. It sounds like the chorus of one of the Church\u2019s sweetest anthems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He answered, \u201cWhether or not he\u2019s a sinner, I don\u2019t know. One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I can see!\u201d (John 9:25).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This man didn\u2019t have Jesus all figured out. He couldn\u2019t explain a God willing to break tradition on the Sabbath He created. He couldn\u2019t reconcile the Pharisees\u2019 perception of God with the reality of his encounter with Jesus, but he did know one thing: \u201cI was blind, and now I can see.\u201d He was preaching the gospel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whatever else the gospel is, it most certainly is this: \u201cI am a great sinner, and Christ is a great Savior.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Pharisees simply could not stand against the undeniable testimony of the man who had been healed. So radical was his transformation that his friends and neighbors declared him a changed man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Friends, the gospel is not a treasure to be hoarded. The call on each of our lives is to shout it from every rooftop and whisper it in every coffee shop, declaring it to every fellow sinner (Matthew 28:18\u201320).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we simply put the story of God\u2019s grace in our own lives on display, we declare, \u201cI was blind. But because of Jesus, now I see.\u201d This is our anthem of hope, and it\u2019s hard to deny hope. We don\u2019t need all the answers; our explanations won\u2019t always woo others to Jesus. But the aroma of Christ Jesus in us will. It\u2019s His healing presence in our own lives that draws the lost and the blind to the One who brings healing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I believe in Jesus with every cell He created in me. I know He\u2019s the only hope for those who are adrift from His love and truth. And yet, when it\u2019s time to share the gospel, sometimes my palms start to sweat. What if I create more confusion than clarity? What if I get snagged […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":72650,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[305],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-john25"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[72756],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadTruth","devotional_text":"JESUS HEALS THE BLIND<\/b>
\r\nby Erin Davis<\/i>
\r\n
I believe in Jesus with every cell He created in me. I know He\u2019s the only hope for those who are adrift from His love and truth. And yet, when it\u2019s time to share the gospel, sometimes my palms start to sweat.<\/p>
\r\n
What if I create more confusion than clarity?<\/p>
\r\n
What if I get snagged on questions about the finer points of the gospel message?<\/p>
\r\n
What then?<\/p>
\r\n
Tucked here in John 9, we find a remarkable story about hope, healing, and the beautiful simplicity of the gospel. At the center of the story is a man born blind. Surely, every time he glanced toward something his eyes could not see, he was reminded of his brokenness and need for a healer.<\/p>
\r\n
When we come face to face with our inability to be holy as God is holy or to \u201cfix\u201d ourselves, we realize our need for a savior. We try to go a day without sinning and fail before our feet hit the floor, once again realizing just how broken we are.<\/p>
\r\n
Then the God who healed this man\u2019s eyes lifts ours.<\/p>
\r\n
After his miraculous healing, the man was pressed by the religious establishment about his encounter with Jesus. He didn\u2019t debate the points of the law or drop a truth bomb, leaving the room in stunned silence. He simply told his story. Pay attention. It sounds like the chorus of one of the Church\u2019s sweetest anthems.<\/p>
\r\n
He answered, \u201cWhether or not he\u2019s a sinner, I don\u2019t know. One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I can see!\u201d (John 9:25).<\/p>
\r\n
This man didn\u2019t have Jesus all figured out. He couldn\u2019t explain a God willing to break tradition on the Sabbath He created. He couldn\u2019t reconcile the Pharisees\u2019 perception of God with the reality of his encounter with Jesus, but he did know one thing: \u201cI was blind, and now I can see.\u201d He was preaching the gospel.<\/p>
\r\n
Whatever else the gospel is, it most certainly is this: \u201cI am a great sinner, and Christ is a great Savior.\u201d<\/p>
\r\n
The Pharisees simply could not stand against the undeniable testimony of the man who had been healed. So radical was his transformation that his friends and neighbors declared him a changed man.<\/p>
\r\n
Friends, the gospel is not a treasure to be hoarded. The call on each of our lives is to shout it from every rooftop and whisper it in every coffee shop, declaring it to every fellow sinner (Matthew 28:18\u201320).<\/p>
\r\n
When we simply put the story of God\u2019s grace in our own lives on display, we declare, \u201cI was blind. But because of Jesus, now I see.\u201d This is our anthem of hope, and it\u2019s hard to deny hope. We don\u2019t need all the answers; our explanations won\u2019t always woo others to Jesus. But the aroma of Christ Jesus in us will. It\u2019s His healing presence in our own lives that draws the lost and the blind to the One who brings healing.<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"16","scripture":"John 9:1-41, Genesis 2:7, Romans 1:18-20","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}