Who do you know that seems to have life all figured out? Likely it’s just an ordinary person who faces daily life like us with all its surprises, challenges, and upsets, but who generally keeps their cool, even when external things fall apart and don’t go the way they hoped and planned. By the way, such “ordinary” people are just the raw material God searches for to give them extraordinary assignments. That is because then He gets the proper credit, others come to know Him, and lives are turned around and transformed, conditioned perfectly to enter into eternal life with Jesus.
Such folks generally have a lot they have not figured out yet, but they have matured enough to know the One who knows them and Who knows completely WHAT is going on, and WHY. When you know the ONE who knows, that’s enough; you don’t have to know all the answers! Actually honesty and vulnerability (like admitting to the many things I don’t know), gives others enough space and comfort that they too might be encouraged to become honest enough to admit their own limitations, and perhaps even admit their own needs.
Along that line, Jesus told the man born blind that by admitting his blindness, he had opened the door to receiving both physical and spiritual sight from Him. The man proved his spiritual sight (a gift from God) by worshipping Jesus. Then Jesus told him He came from heaven to earth so that those who see might NOT see, and so that those who do not see might see. Jesus’ speech often caused people Like Nicodemus major confusion between the physical and the spiritual. The same thing happened here as eavesdropping Pharisees immediately asked Him if they were blind too. Jesus replied that if they were blind (and could admit to their spiritual blindness) they would not be charged with sin, but since they claimed to see, they remained in their sin; i.e. He could not help them.
Still later Jesus taught about the Holy Spirit He would send back in His place, once He returned to heaven. He said the Spirit would reprove the world of sin because they did NOT believe in Him. This is THE sin we must confront first when asking Jesus to become our personal Lord and savior, THE sin of unbelief. 1 John 5 says that God the Father has provided His record regarding His Son. If we don’t believe that record (Bible) about Jesus we are calling God a liar. His record includes His voice from heaven stating how very pleased God the Father is with God the Son. It also includes the resurrection of Jesus from the dead along with many eyewitnesses, and disciples who died rather than renounce what they had seen and heard directly from Jesus.
Jesus turned water into the best of wine, healed sightless and lame people, paid for all our sins, and rose from the dead as God’s certification of all Jesus did and said. His resurrection is the down payment of our own, allowing us to taste the reality of our heavenly relationship with Him, the evidence of real things not yet seen or directly experienced. His resurrection is the first fruits of a massive worldwide bodily eternal victory resurrection of all believers, transforming cowards and purposeless covenant breakers into fearless, faithful, fishermen sent out into God’s Lost & Found Department to reconcile others to Himself forever.
