Grains of Sand

Google Images “ ...it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it ” (John 11:4). Not long before this incident in John 11, the disciples had met a blind man and learned a lesson (John 9:3). They had thought that sickness was the obvious consequence of sin. Jesus disabused them of that notion. “ ...this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. ” A short time later the news came that Lazarus, a close friend of the Lord's, was sick. Though this time the disciples didn’t question the reasons for the sickness, the Lord quickly assured them that God would be glorified through it, just had He had been glorified through the healing of the blind man. The disciples may have assumed that Lazarus too would be healed. Little did they anticipate that Jesus would wait until his friend had died before going to Bethany. Sickness and death—we rarely say those two words in the same sentence as we say “ the glory of God. ” After the fact, we can underst...

Our pastor is working through the book of Acts with us on Sunday evenings. Last night we looked at Acts 5 and the not-so-pleasant experience of Ananias and Sapphira. This couple lied to the church and tried to lie to God. Their judgment was swift–they both fell dead at the feet of those they were trying to deceive. Normally a study of this incident ends with verse 11 (NIV): " Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events ." However, our pastor kept going until the end of verse 16. The disciples continued to preach and perform miracles throughout the community in spite of the nasty experience with Ananias and Sapphira. But this fear of God associated with their deaths held back some other people from getting too close to the believers. " No one else dared joined them, even though they were highly regarded by the people " –Acts 5:13, NIV. We speculated that perhaps Ananias and Sapphira weren't true believers at all, only hangers-on who ...

Levi ticus 11-13 Disease ravages the world in spite of all our medical advances, technology and the availability of pills, syrups, patches, and therapies of every kind and description. The common cold, the flu, even the old standards like measles and chicken pox, pop up often. I sneeze into my sleeve—most of the time. But how many doorknobs, taps, and other things have I, or someone else, already contaminated during those times when we forgot to do the right thing? Someone should read Leviticus and follow the instructions: 1. Keep your germs isolated and to yourself. 2. Go and see an expert for things that might be dangerous to others. Funny, the advice is several thousand years old and we still don’t get the point. God had his way of keeping Israel from being devastated by communicable diseases—without benefit of pills, syrups, advanced science, and universal health care. Mind you, unlike the Old Testament priests, I’m not sure my pastor would know HINI from the mumps. (*sigh!*)

There are certain themes that dominate prayer request lists. The material and the physical are usually at the top. Funny how we pray more for the temporal than the spiritual. The four men who defied all the odds to get their paralyzed friend to Jesus' feet appeared to be hoping for physical healing. I wonder what they thought: " When Jesus saw their faith, he said, 'Friend, your sins are forgiven. '" —Luke 5:20. Excuse us, Lord, but in case you haven't noticed, this guy can't walk! What did the Lord see in this "faith"? Did He say what He did simply to provoke the Pharisees, who had front row seats despite their unbelief? Perhaps both are true. In any case, He used His critics' shock at His presumption to teach at least two valuable lessons. 1. He had the authority to forgive sins because He was God—an authority He proved by healing the paralyzed man. 2. He also demonstrated that spiritual healing was His first priority. Jesus never "imp...