For God's Glory

John 9:1-3
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.

It is so easy, isn’t it, to think that when life isn’t going our way we are being punished for something we’ve done wrong. We begin to wonder what we must change, and how we are misbehaving that things aren’t going the way we’d like them to go. Now, it very well could be that we are being disobedient and God is trying to discipline us and bring us back into line with His will - that must always be something we look at and consider. However, when we look at our lives and we go to God and do not feel He is wagging His finger at us, perhaps there is something else we should consider - the glory of God.

This verse reminds us that there are times when God allows difficult situations not because of our disobedience, so-to-speak, but rather to display His great glory! Sure, it’s easy to reflect the peace and love of Christ when life is great and nothing is going wrong. But when hard times befall us, and we are still able to reflect that same peace and love, people take notice! We can mope around, complaining about everything that’s going wrong (believe me, I tend to take this route much more than I’d like to admit), and I’m sure nobody would think the worse of us - even fellow Christians. It is one of our favorite pastimes, it seems, to recount our latest troubles, turmoils, and new-found ailments to whomever will listen. So, when a person comes along that simply is, whatever that happens to mean for that day, it is quite unusual - especially when we know that person is having some difficulty.

Let’s not let anyone try and convince us that our troubles, and difficulties always come from our lack of obedience. Rather, let’s look inward, and talk with God to discern our culpability. When we discover we are walking in the righteousness Christ has given us, let’s hold our heads high, and rejoice in the pain and suffering, knowing that it comes so God can reveal His great and mighty glory to us and through us! Praise His mighty and holy name!