True trust, True faith, True belief. John 9: 1-11
“Neither this man sinned nor his parents sinned, said Jesus, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” John 9:3
I’m sure we’ve all heard words like this as mentally ill people and also similiar for any disabled person…. Pull your socks up…If you only had more faith or trust in God. Or maybe you like me have had scripture quoted at you like “If you only believe you can do ANYTHING in my name Jesus said, But you must believe.” Personally, from first glance it sounds like there are three magic words…..trust, faith and belief, and if you just apply them properly anything in Jesus name can be acheived. To a certain extent it is true but also to a certain extent it’s not that simple. Now don’t think that I’m trying to deny, reject or even twist scripture here, all I ask is that you read on to what God may be saying here to put new light on a old problem.
If you read the whole passage [and see the pharisees response following] you will see how Jesus healed a man born blind on the sabbath something forbidden by Jewish law. You could take lots of angles on the passage but I’m just taking why he was born blind and going from there.
We like the man born blind in this story are often blamed for our sicknesses and disabilities, even by other disciples of Jesus [ See verse 1] .But when The Master, Jesus comes fully into the picture we get the correct image of all things in life including sickness and disability. Not even the disciples who lived, walked, ate and worked with Jesus got it right all the time. They even argued amongst themselves it says at times in the bible while with him. It’s no wonder we make mistakes too; we’re just as human as they were. Which brings me back to my point: Jesus NEVER blamed people for being sick or disabled. And in verse three Jesus said it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him . Then he healed him. We often forget that total physical healing isn’t the only way God touches, changes and uses us. [Plus in Acts 5:12-16 there were people Jesus hadn't healed.] The greatest change a person has is the change on the inside, the greater healings are those of broken relationships healed, healed marriages, families, changed attitudes, changed lives from the inside first. God maybe using what seems bad or unwanted in your life to bring out further his glory. See Romans 8.28. So just because you may not be totally physically or mentally healed, Jesus can still use you and it’s NOT because you don’t have enough trust, faith or because you don’t believe with all your heart. God can and does use you anyway in lots of ways including but not limited to part time/full time paid/volunteer work, ministry, prayer the list goes on. Sometimes you have true trust, true faith and true BELIEF to do these things anyway.