Men As Trees, Walking

Mark 8:22-25

They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, "Do you see anything?" He looked up and said, "I see people; they look like trees walking around." Once more Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly

Good morning ladies,

Have you ever wondered why it took two tries for Jesus to heal this man? I hadn’t until I read Spiritual Depression Its Causes and Cure by Lloyd-Jones.

Now I can’t get it out of my head.

Jones suggests that Jesus was using this healing to illustrate a point, a very disturbing point. From the moment Jesus spit on his eyes the man was no longer blind, but he wasn’t really healed. He was neither blind nor sighted, he was somewhere in the middle.

Neither what he was nor what he could be.

The reason that this is haunting me is because I believe it to be true.

I see too many Christians, especially women, in the same state. They have accepted Jesus as savior, so they are no longer who they used to be, but they haven’t realized who they are in Christ, so they are not what they could be.

They know too much to find satisfaction in the pleasures of the world, but too little to grasp the Joy of the Lord.

Just like the Israelites who wandered in the desert, freed from slavery but longing to return to Egypt, God’s women are wandering in the desert of insecurity and poor self-esteem, stressed and unhappy without knowing why.

If this is you, do not let Satan rob you of your joy; pursue Christ until you can see. God did not send His Son to die on a cross just so we could go to heaven He came to set us free-now.

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:31-33

Love,
Jill