6-25-2019

Good Morning All,

John 9:8; “The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?”

   Have you ever watched the news when they show relief work done in a region where people are starving?  The people all look gaunt, even emaciated; each holding out a cup.  Into that cup is poured some type of porridge that is usually high in protein and carbohydrates.  Yet the one thing that you see is that everyone just waits, with their cup held out.  When you look at them, you can’t tell if one is a rich man and the next is a poor man.  You can’t tell if the woman is a mother, a widow or a princess.  They all stand in line, no sense of rank or entitlement, just waiting for their meager ration.  It is never a lot, only enough for the day.

    In our verse, we read about one of the more pitiful people in the Bible.  We have a blind beggar.  Imagine his living condition.  He would sit beside the road, probably dressed in rags, probably dirty from the dust of the road.  He was probably hassled by the thugs and bullies who saw him as a good target.  Some of the kids would have made fun of him because he was blind.  The Pharisees blamed him for his circumstance and offered no compassion.  What a sorrowful life this was.

    You and I are like that beggar.  We are the pitiful, blind beggar and it doesn’t matter if you go to church every Sunday and sit up front or if you don’t remember the last time you saw the inside of a church; you are a beggar.  We have no other way to view it.  We are completely at the mercy of God and his love.  The world and the devil love to taunt us, to bully us and to even look down upon us; for we are beggars.  We can only stand before God and ask for help.  Our only hope is from God, without his love we are pitiful, blind beggars. 

    The wonder of God’s love is that he has compassion on us.  We are not anything special; we are just us.  How often do you sit and think, “if only people knew what I am really like?”  Do you feel the devil knocking you down with that?  How often do you think, “If God really knows me; I don’t have a chance”.  Do you feel the dirt and the grime from the road?  Jesus died for you and me and we stand in line together, holding out the cup, looking for a day’s ration.  That is all we need; one day of God’s grace.  It will get us through until tomorrow when we will get one more day’s ration of grace. 

    That is really all we need, one day’s ration of grace.   One simple fill up and we can face the day’s struggle.  The devil and the world will still bully us, situations may leave us feeling dirty but God gives us that day’s ration of grace.  We are all beggars before God; but thanks be to God that he has compassion on us!

Gracious Father, we are humble before you.  We have nothing and we have no way to ever get anything.  All we can do is beg of you.  We beg for your forgiveness, we beg for your mercy, we beg for your grace and you supply it.  We give you thanks!!  In Jesus precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret