So selfish to think that everything revolves around us?

To think that everything is about our own life? How dare we make life about us!

Here we see the disciples, again, living in this world, looking at everything through selfish eyes. They were thinking only about a person’s actions and God bringing punishment for those actions. Who sinned? That very question assumes the man’s position in life is about himself or his parents.

We do the same thing… We assume everything in our life is about us. We assume blessing or challenges are the result of our action. If we are “good followers of Christ” we assume everything is for a lesson to us, to sharpen and cleans us. It’s all me, me, me… selfishness.

Enough!

Jesus answered, raise your thoughts to heaven, take your eyes off yourself. This man has spent his life blind to make this day possible. It was all part of God’s plan that on this day he receive his sight after a lifetime of darkness, just to show Gods mercy and glory and power. It was never about him, it was about who watches what happens next. It was about this scripture, about this powerful lesson living on for thousands of years! It was about the millions of people who read this story and gain great insight into how our Father works.

What if the man had prayed, pleaded, begged God to restore his sight, for decades. Would God have healed him them? If He did, then the man would have missed out on the awesome blessing in store for this day. Would this man blame God for not answering his prayer? Would he condemn God for this blindness?

You see, it was never about him! God gave him a great gift, a prominent place in the scripture. The necessary cost, was a first part of life in blindness. That part was a necessary requirement for the work God intended.

Have you ever prayed to be used of God? Have you given Him control, ownership over your life? If so, how dare we assume anything is about us? What if God is answering your prayer, allowing things to go badly continually, no matter what, just so that He can show the world His glory through your circumstance? Why do we assume it is about us?

Decades ago my dad, self employed, fell into hardship. For years we were hanging on by a thread financially. Over and over he would gather the little company he started and let everyone know that “this was it”. The money had run out and if something big didn’t happen today, he had to close those doors. Sure enough, on those very days, at the last possible moment someone walked in the door and did something big. We existed like this, from barely making it to barely making it, just in the nick of time, for several years. It drained him. He often spoke like Job, “why has this happened? Why won’t God answer? What more can I learn from this?”.

But, looking back, I can tell you that this experience through the eyes of this young man built my faith like nothing else could. It wasn’t about my dad at all, it was about those watching silently. It gave me what I needed for my own life as a father of twelve living in a day of uncertainty. It gave me an unshakable foundation to build on.

Perhaps someone is silently watching you right now. Perhaps they see Christ in you, in how you deal with adversity. Perhaps someday God will remove those challenges in a miraculous way, perhaps not. Question is, why does it matter? If we gave our life to Christ, how dare we pick that life back up and complain about the path God gives us? How dare we do anything but accept that life as is and shine Jesus through it? Who do we think we are anyway, the potter or the clay?

Paul had such a challenge, and he prayed three times, then accepted it. Give it to God! Whatever it is. Trust Him. Live Jesus. Be the light to those around you. Be at peace.

This man was not blind from sin. He was blind for glory. Let God’s glory shine through your life today, no matter what.