John 9:1-12
“Notice what you notice.” It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. (v. 3) This verse intrigued me, but not in the sense in which it was written. That is, the following verse seems to explain that the man was blind so that Jesus could heal him – We must work the works of Him who sent Me… (v. 4) That never made sense to me, that a man could be blind from birth until adulthood just so Jesus’ works could be displayed. So there must be some confusion there.
However, as I read that verse this time, what I saw was that each of us is created exactly as we are so that the works of God might be displayed… in US! We know that we all have gifts that are to be used to God’s glory, so it must be the case that we also have handicaps or limitations that are to reflect His glory. None of us is perfect – not in our physical, mental, or emotional makeup. But we move on in spite of those shortcomings. Isn’t it strange that so often when we see the phrase “in spite of”, it is used to reflect something that someone has done “in spite of” his or her physical limitations?! For example, she ran the marathon in spite of wearing a cast on her foot to heal a broken ankle.
But more to the point, to reflect God’s glory… Carol and I once met an old man who had terrible tremors that he had had for many years. As I recall, he may have been a preacher or a missionary. However, in spite of his tremors, the markings in his Bible were perfect – straight underlines, words written perfectly legibly!! This man reflected God’s glory – in spite of his handicap!
We are made just as we are, folks, to reflect God’s glory, in both our gifts and our limitations. GLORY!!