One of my favorite chapters in the Bible is John 9.
It contains great Theology themes (suitable for discussion) such as :
suffering = punishment,
ceremony > results,
and one of the best 1 sentence summations of the Gospel to be found, but more on this later…
It documents one of Jesus’ miracles; restoring sight to one who was born blind. While this is an amazing picture of God’s grace, it’s also slightly disturbing for me. I really struggle with the concept of predestination, and find it difficult to assemble the words that express my personal interpretations. It’s one of those God concepts that’s almost impossible to wrap the human mind around. Visualize reading Shakespeare to a dog.
The implication is that this man was born blind, for this exact moment in time. I’ve always thought, “what a drag it was to be this guy”; For 30 something years, existing in complete darkness, never seeing his mother’s smile, the beauty of a sunset, or the splendor of God’s creation…all for this moment in time. And he’s not alone. The text reveals others, seemingly with their own singular tick on time’s eternal graph. For the woman with the blood disease, it was the touching of Jesus’ garment. For Zacchaeus, it was in the climbing of the tree, and for the Samaritan woman, it was her encounter with the Savior at the well…just to name a few.
It begs the question, “Was I created for a singular moment in time”? and if so, what if I missed it?! What if the blind man had chosen a different gate in which to sit by that day? The elderly woman decides she’s too frail to brave the crowds, the Samaritan woman chooses another time of day to fetch water, or Zacchaeus thinks that climbing the tree would just be an exercise in futility?
How many “would be” stories are absent from the Bible, victims of second guessed decisions such as these? And in my case, what if it was one of the days I skipped church, opted not to go to work, took a different route…the possibilities are seemingly endless. Did I miss something? I guess its human nature to pose this question.
There’s a story about a small group of guys sitting around one day, discussing how often they had sex with their wives. One guy exclaimed, “Twice a week”, and the others nodded, seeming to say, “not bad”. Another exclaimed, “once a week”, still another, “once a month”. One guy, remained silent, all the while grinning from ear to ear. They turned to him and quizzed, “So, what’s you story”? Still smiling, he replied, “Once a year”. “Once a year?” they shouted, “Why the smile”? In which he exclaimed, “Because tonight’s the night”!
That’s the shift in focus I think is required. A change from, “What if I missed it”, to “Today’s the day”!
And while these single events in time are all that’s captured of these people, the safe assumption could be made that their lives, and everything around them was altered for all of eternity. The Chaos Theory. You know, A butterfly flaps it’s wings… The little things I do today have the potential to alter eternity…exponentially… May I ever be mindful of that.
Oh, and that single sentence summation of the Gospel?
It documents one of Jesus’ miracles; restoring sight to one who was born blind. While this is an amazing picture of God’s grace, it’s also slightly disturbing for me. I really struggle with the concept of predestination, and find it difficult to assemble the words that express my personal interpretations. It’s one of those God concepts that’s almost impossible to wrap the human mind around. Visualize reading Shakespeare to a dog.
The implication is that this man was born blind, for this exact moment in time. I’ve always thought, “what a drag it was to be this guy”; For 30 something years, existing in complete darkness, never seeing his mother’s smile, the beauty of a sunset, or the splendor of God’s creation…all for this moment in time. And he’s not alone. The text reveals others, seemingly with their own singular tick on time’s eternal graph. For the woman with the blood disease, it was the touching of Jesus’ garment. For Zacchaeus, it was in the climbing of the tree, and for the Samaritan woman, it was her encounter with the Savior at the well…just to name a few.
It begs the question, “Was I created for a singular moment in time”? and if so, what if I missed it?! What if the blind man had chosen a different gate in which to sit by that day? The elderly woman decides she’s too frail to brave the crowds, the Samaritan woman chooses another time of day to fetch water, or Zacchaeus thinks that climbing the tree would just be an exercise in futility?
How many “would be” stories are absent from the Bible, victims of second guessed decisions such as these? And in my case, what if it was one of the days I skipped church, opted not to go to work, took a different route…the possibilities are seemingly endless. Did I miss something? I guess its human nature to pose this question.
There’s a story about a small group of guys sitting around one day, discussing how often they had sex with their wives. One guy exclaimed, “Twice a week”, and the others nodded, seeming to say, “not bad”. Another exclaimed, “once a week”, still another, “once a month”. One guy, remained silent, all the while grinning from ear to ear. They turned to him and quizzed, “So, what’s you story”? Still smiling, he replied, “Once a year”. “Once a year?” they shouted, “Why the smile”? In which he exclaimed, “Because tonight’s the night”!
That’s the shift in focus I think is required. A change from, “What if I missed it”, to “Today’s the day”!
And while these single events in time are all that’s captured of these people, the safe assumption could be made that their lives, and everything around them was altered for all of eternity. The Chaos Theory. You know, A butterfly flaps it’s wings… The little things I do today have the potential to alter eternity…exponentially… May I ever be mindful of that.
Oh, and that single sentence summation of the Gospel?
“...I do not know, but one thing I do know…I was blind, but now I see”!
Sums it all up, doesn’t it.
3 comments:
You have given me some great things to ponder.
I as a former Arminian now turned Calvinst I still grapple with the doctines of grace(tulip)but things are coming together as I scripturally study out the first point which is total depravity.
I think uderstanding our total depravity as a foundation you can build on the the other points including predestination.
Test Comment
Good writing Dave. Think this quote applies also:
Matthew 6:33-34 “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow.”
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