Ever feel like that guy with the shriveled hand? Embarrassed and singled out, like he must have felt that day that he met Jesus?
Jesus walked all over and met alot of people with functioning hands ... people that actually would have no problem opening their hand, lacing their fingers and spinning their thumbs. But it wasn't until he met the ONE man with the shriveled hand that Jesus said this:
"Come up and stand where we can see you!" He got up and stood there. ... He said to the man, "Hold out your hand."
Anyone else in the crowd would have no problem with that, would they? EXCEPT this one man because we read that he was "the man with the shriveled hand."
Sometimes I feel like that man.
I often feel like the lonely guy in the crown who cannot do what everyone else seems to be able to do on their own. They make it look easy, but for me it is impossible.
I have been having a conversation in recent blogs about this, but I'm trying to make this entry clearer than previous entries. We talked about some of the commands that I know that I have been told to do, yet at no time have I ever had the innate ability to do them on my own. We talked about "unless your righteousness exceed that of the Pharisees..." and "be perfect" and "be holy" and "don't get angry" and "do not worry" and "do not lust" ... all the things that I cannot make happen on my own, but others make it look easy.
Jason, I know, was trying to help when he brought up some alternative ideas of what those commands could mean. For example, instead of "perfect" be "whole." So, that when it reads "be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect" I could take that to mean: "be whole as your Father in heaven is whole." ... the only problem is that, on my own, and by my might and power, and all I could muster alone, not for one moment in time could I even keep this watered down version of the command. Others may be able, but not me ... I am like that man that cannot stretch forth his shriveled hand on his own. But like that man, I have learned the secret of doing the impossible.
'Not by force, and not by power, but by my Spirit,'
The man with the shriveled hand likewise learned this secret that day: [Jesus] said to the man, "Hold out your hand." As he held it out, his hand was restored.
It wasn't just this man, but the cripple that Jesus commanded to get up and walk, and the blind man that Jesus commanded to see, and the dead man that Jesus commanded to come forth. Each command was particularly impossible to them, and each time they did it, not by might nor by power but by the Spirit!
And now you know to be encouraged when asked to do the impossible and love your enemies, and put off unrighteousness, and cloth yourself (that is your outward walk) with Jesus. Be especially encouraged when you feel as though others can do that, but you in particular are not able to do so by your power and your might. It is only those that "CANNOT" that find the Spirit sufficient ... for such is the case of Paul, who wrote this secret many years before:
"Faithful is He that called you, Who also will do it."
I stand before you a man with no righteousness of my own, but having been commanded to be righteous, by the one that also did it - and made me righteous.
I stand before you with no perfection of my own, but having been commanded to be prefect, by the one that also did it - and made be perfect.
I am not holy on my own, but I have been commanded to be holy by the one that also did it - and made me holy.
He has made this selfish person, love others, and this vengeful person turn the other cheek ...
And the list goes on ... for I have found the secret in the words that the world hates to say and Jesus loves to hear ...
"I can't."
08/13/07 @ 11:00
08/13/07 @ 16:38
08/13/07 @ 17:56
08/13/07 @ 18:30
08/14/07 @ 02:48 All sin is forgiven through Me, and forgiven are those who are penitent before Me. ~ Jesus [Letters from God and His Christ - Volume 3 - In and By the Word are Gods Prophets Sent Out For His Glory, To Glorify Him Who Is Coming Quickly]
