John 9:24-33 (NLT)
So for the second time they called in the man who had been blind and told him, “God should get the glory for this, because we know this man Jesus is a sinner.” 25 “I don’t know whether he is a sinner,” the man replied. “But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see!” 26 “But what did he do?” they asked. “How did he heal you?” 27 “Look!” the man exclaimed. “I told you once. Didn’t you listen? Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?” 28 Then they cursed him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses! 29 We know God spoke to Moses, but we don’t even know where this man comes from.” 30 “Why, that’s very strange!” the man replied. “He healed my eyes, and yet you don’t know where he comes from? 31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship him and do his will. 32 Ever since the world began, no one has been able to open the eyes of someone born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he couldn’t have done it.”
I am a man who actually has two jobs, pastor and pilot. Pretty much everyone knows the spiritual environment that a pastor works in, but few know anything at all about the moral pits of the airline pilot world. Just the other day, I was having a conversation with a fellow pilot who follows the Way. He mentioned wishing that he had some way, non-verbally, to tell his fellow pilots he is a Christian, so he wouldn’t have to participate in unwholesome talk, look at compromising photos, or flirt with every pretty face that walked by. He thought maybe he should have a cross pin on his necktie. This would be his witness for Christ, and the flights would eventually be better. I don’t think this will have the effect he hopes.
When we move in the world and share our lives with not-yet-Christians, our proclamation that we follow the Way should be seen not by our necktie pins but by the affect we have in people’s lives. The blind man plainly gives us the test for telling the world we are Christian: “If this man were not from God, he couldn’t have done it.” Have you been impacting your community in such a way that people are in such awe of your generosity, kindness, hope and love that they say, without a doubt, that only a person with God in them could have done this? Anybody can wear clothing or a bumper sticker that says “I follow God,” and many do without any impact on the world. Yet how many Christians really leave behind them a wake of evidence that God is the only answer to the goodness their community experienced?
God, give me the desire and power to impact your world so they may know your name.
Dialog discuss: Effective January 1, 2008 ‘Gender’ means ‘sex,’ and includes a person’s gender identity and gender related appearance and behavior whether or not stereotypically associated with the person’s assigned sex at birth. California Education Code Section 210.7 Signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarznegger.