Monday, February 29, 2016

What Jesus Will Do In Us Is More Important Than What Jesus Can Do For Us

My Utmost For His Highest
 
"What do you want Me to do for you?" He said, "Lord, that I may receive my sight." —Luke 18:41
 
“When Jesus asks what we want Him to do for us about the incredible problem that is confronting us, remember that He doesn’t work in commonsense ways, but only in supernatural ways.  Look at how we limit the Lord by only remembering what we have allowed Him to do for us in the past. We say, “I always failed there, and I always will.” Consequently, we don’t ask for what we want. Instead, we think, “It is ridiculous to ask God to do this.” If it is an impossibility, it is the very thing for which we have to ask. […] God will do what is absolutely impossible.  This man received his sight. But the most impossible thing for you is to be so closely identified with the Lord that there is literally nothing of your old life remaining. God will do it if you will ask Him. But you have to come to the point of believing Him to be almighty. We find faith by not only believing what Jesus says, but, even more, by trusting Jesus Himself. […] Once we see Jesus, the impossible things He does in our lives become as natural as breathing. The agony we suffer is only the result of the deliberate shallowness of our own heart. We won’t believe; we won’t let go by severing the line that secures the boat to the shore— we prefer to worry.”  CHAMBERS
 
The solution is simple … but at the same time … very difficult.  The reason it is so simple is Jesus is the answer … the reason it is so difficult … the answer requires faith and trust.  Can you imagine being blind.  No chance of seeing.  In fact, you don’t even know what seeing is .. but you know what the consequence of not seeing is.  Life is difficult.  Then, one day, you hear about Jesus.  That He can heal the sick, give sight to the blind.  And, for some reason that you do not understand, you believe that He can and will.  And now, because of your faith, you can see.  A new world of possibilities are opened to you.  I can describe how it feels to fly, but until you actually do it, you can only imagine.  Not until you do it yourself will you understand the reality of what I described to you.
 
There is a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson that I had to memorize in grade school, The Swing. “How do you like to go up in a swing, Up in the air so blue? Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing Ever a child can do! Up in the air and over the wall, Till I can see so wide, Rivers and trees and cattle and all Over the countryside—Till I look down on the garden green, Down on the roof so brown— Up in the air I go flying again, Up in the air and down!”  As I remember that poem, I also remember the feeling in my stomach as the swing rose until there was slack in the chain.  The feeling of joy that I had.  Such a simple thing.  But oh what great faith it took to trust my safety to the builder of that swing.  Life is like that as we walk with Jesus.  If we come to Him as a child (Matthew 18:3) “And he [Jesus] said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”  What is it in your life that you need to take to Jesus?  The blind man’s healing was a sign to the Jews.  The healing was a spiritual message delivered in a way that the lost could see.  But they focused on the one healed and not on the healer.  We become so focused on our problem that we miss the problem solver.  It is more important for us to have no problems in our lives than it is to walk with One who can bring healing.  It is not so much what Jesus can do for us as what He can do in us.  ELGIN
 
Charley Elgin

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