I recently was out for lunch with my mom
and we went to my favorite Chinese restaurant.
During Lunch the restaurant only offers a buffet so you really are not
working directly with a waiter or waitress.
We had gone to get our food and sat down to eat. This was a very normal lunch and we had our
usual conversation, so nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
I don’t remember seeing anyone that I
knew or recognized and neither did my mom.
The owner of the restaurant came over to my mom, while I was in the
restroom, and told her that our bill had been paid. Upon my return, my mom tells me this, and we
begin to look around. Now, this is not a
large restaurant and we normally go here later, so we are not dealing with the
lunch crowds. By this time there was
barely anyone left, so we were not able to find out who the person was who paid
our bill.
The owner had told my mom that it was
someone who she had worked with at her old job but there wasn’t anyone there
that we knew. I told my mom I think this
was God blessing us through an obedient believer.
In reading John 5:13 this story was
brought to my mind how we were blessed by a faceless person. In John 5:13 after Jesus had healed the
paralyzed man, the Jews were asking the man, now healed, who healed him, and the
man was not able to say who it was.
Jesus had performed a miracle, and then
left quickly, because it was a crowded place.
I thought that it was beautiful how Jesus healed this man in the open
but left before the praise could be given to him. Just like the man paid for our bill but
left before he could receive any praise for his blessing.
I believe a lot of times we give, do
things for others, or flaunt the kindness that we show to others for the glory
and praise that comes after the deed.
Jesus was an example of humility when he left after healing the man.
Jesus did not stay around for the
cheers, applauding, and wonder, for the miracle that he just completed, he had
done his part and moved along with his plans.
Most of us would have stayed there to receive the accolades of our
deeds. We would have stayed to puff up
and inflate our egos, instead of quietly walking away.
It says in Matthew 6:3, in the Amplified
Bible, But when you give to charity, let not your left hand know what your
right hand is doing. I believe this is
telling us to be a quiet giver. Be a
humble giver. Give out of the desire
that God has given to you, not for people or yourself to recognize your
sacrifice and then boast about it later.
There have been many times God has put
it on my heart to do something kind for someone I don’t know, and I try as hard
as I can, to complete what God has asked me to do, and to do it without
receiving praise. I am just the
messenger in those situations and the Glory is God’s. He uses people who obey him to bless his
children.
I will feel very uncomfortable if the
person knows it’s me or will start to make a scene over the blessing. I completely separate myself and my emotions
in those situations. Now, I can’t say
that when I have done what God has asked me to do, that I don’t feel good, but
my feeling good is not because of the deed, it’s because I was obedient to God.
I think these two verses exemplify how
we are to handle giving or blessing someone.
We should never give to gain; we are to give to bless someone else, to
help a person in need and Glorify God.
I love that! In Verse 14, it says that
afterwards, Jesus found him in the Temple and said to him, see, you are
well! Jesus didn’t stick around long
enough after the miracle to even see if the man was healed. He knew that the power God has entrusted him
with was sufficient to meet the needs of this man and his purpose with him, was
complete, for that time.
Jesus then proceeds to tell him, and I
think it’s something we need to pay close attention too. He says, stop sinning or something worse may
happen to you. A very bold statement and
one that I would think would set you on the narrow road that leads to life,
instead of the wide road he had been traveling on for thirty-eight years.
With this statement, Jesus is informing
us that we may indeed receive a miracle, blessing, or deliverance, but if we
don’t change our ways, what will happen to us is worse than what our issue was
before.
Take a moment to think about this and
the magnitude of this simple sentence.
Your prayer has been answered, for
whatever it is, and you go right back to the life that you lead prior to your
prayer being answered. Jesus is saying,
no, that’s not an option. You have been
chosen and received a healing, the last thing you should do is return back to
your old man. You should acknowledge the
transformation that has happened in your life, and allow that to change you, from
the inside out.
I think this is one of the reasons we
don’t receive answers to our prayers immediately. When you have an addiction, let’s say to
drugs, and God heals you from your addiction, in a moment, I would hope that
would give you the transformation that you had been praying for; to not turn
back to the person you were before. I
don’t think that’s how it is though. I
think that is why God makes us sweat it out.
I think he wants to see if we are truly
dependent on him, and ready to change.
Are we really ready to walk the narrow road to life, or do we want to
stay in the same lane we have been, that has led us to destruction? Many times we want to change something, or
someone, in our lives but we don’t want to do the work that comes with receiving
the change.
We want things to come easy to use, I
know I do, I want to pray and receive
immediately, and when I have to wait a little longer than I want to wait, I
enter into doubt, fear, and unbelief. I
begin to waiver. God is not looking for
someone who is going to waiver. God is
looking for someone who is going to commit to the transformation and stand in
that as a witness to God’s ability in the world.
It is so much easier to remain who you
are than it is to say I am going to be someone different, and then actually do
it. The dedication, commitment, and
fortitude, it takes to step into change and allow God to do the entire work in you
is large. It is not something to be
taken lightly and unfortunately, I think we do.
When you pray for God to use you or for
change to happen in your own life, make sure that you know what you are praying
for, and be ready to enter into stretching your faith like you never have
before. Be ready for the attacks on your
mind from the enemy, be ready for the people around you to doubt you and stand
in disagreement in your plan.
This is why many times we are told to
not share with many the plans that God has told us. When you are in a time of trial and change
you need to keep all negativity away and stay attached to the word of God, be
diligent in your path. When you allow
someone to come into this pure place of God, you are allowing their energy to
affect yours.
Jesus gives us immediate miracles and
miracles that come after a period of time, but are still miracles. He will use your prayers to strengthen you in
him, and in turn, then use you in someone else’s life.
Keep in mind when going through the
season of change, that God is still standing beside you, but as Jesus performed
his miracles out of sight, God will too be out of sight. Stay fastened to the word of God, stay
focused on your change, and know that after your miracle has come, to choose the
road that leads to life, and instead of going back, to the man you once were.
No comments:
Post a Comment