The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States Daily Guide grow. pray. study. for Tuesday, 20 January 2015 “What you face may not come from God at all”

The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States Daily Guide grow. pray. study. for Tuesday, 20 January 2015 “What you face may not come from God at all”
Daily Scripture: John 9: Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind
1 As Jesus walked along, he saw a man who had been blind since birth. 2 Jesus' disciples asked, “Teacher, why was this man born blind? Was it because he or his parents sinned?”
3 “No, it wasn’t!” Jesus answered. “But because of his blindness, you will see God work a miracle for him. 4 As long as it is day, we must do what the one who sent me wants me to do. When night comes, no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light for the world.”
James 1:13 Don’t blame God when you are tempted! God cannot be tempted by evil, and he doesn’t use evil to tempt others. 14 We are tempted by our own desires that drag us off and trap us. 15 Our desires make us sin, and when sin is finished with us, it leaves us dead.
16 Don’t be fooled, my dear friends. 17 Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father who created all the lights in the heavens. He is always the same and never makes dark shadows by changing.
Reflection Questions:
“God won’t give you more than you can handle” is flawed because it assumes that God is the source of any issues you face. As we saw when we studied “Everything happens for a reason,” that is not a Biblical teaching. Both Jesus and his half-brother James taught that our God is the source of good gifts, not of traumas and tragedies.
• James was unequivocal: “No one who is tested should say, ‘God is tempting me!’” When something that strains your faith has happened, have you ever said (or had someone say to you), “Why is God doing this?” How can James’ assurance that “Every good gift, every perfect gift, comes from above” serve to correct and reassure you when you’re tempted to blame God for bad things?
• Jesus did not see this man’s blindness as something God had given him. He also did not see it as a trivial thing the man should just “handle” (though certainly many of God’s children have had to learn how to go on with their lives even with blindness). What does Jesus’ eagerness to heal the man (and God’s promise to ultimately wipe away all tears—cf. Isaiah 25:8) tell you about God’s heart when we face troubles?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, you came to bring healing and light, to pour out on us all good and perfect gifts. Remind me that there are other sources of problems, and keep me from blaming you for what goes wrong in my life. Amen.

Insight from Brandon Gregory

Brandon Gregory is a volunteer for the worship and missions teams at Church of the Resurrection. He helps lead worship at the Vibe, West, and Downtown services, and is involved with the Malawi missions team at home.

I’ve heard it before: “God is testing you.” I’ve heard it applied to everything from stressful situations to long-spanning temptations, from small to big, from annoying things to heartbreaking and potentially catastrophic things. It usually comes from Christians who are trying to encourage me in some way, reminding me that great things await should I persevere.

Every time I hear it, though, my mind goes the other direction. If this is a test, what happens if I fail? What are the implications if God sets up a situation that he knows I could very well stumble and fall completely? Is God really up there saying, “I’ve got a good one, let’s see if he takes it”? There’s actually a legal term for that: entrapment. It’s illegal for police officers to do it; so why is it expected that God does it?

In the creation story in Genesis, it’s stated that God created a perfect place, and we screwed it up with our own ambitions and desires. Today’s passage in James 1 also states it pretty clearly that temptation comes from within. So why is it such a common belief that God tests us with temptation?

It’s a basic human reaction to avoid blame. The ensuing shame, guilt, and fallout are undesirable, to say the least. Saying that God tests us is easier than saying we tempt ourselves because it shifts the responsibility of the temptation onto someone else, meaning we don’t have to take personal responsibility for it. If we fail, it was a test from God, not our own selfish desires. And if we overcome it, major kudos for us! We must be super holy to have passed this grand, divine test that totally didn’t come from our own selfish desires!

I’m not trying to say that temptation is no big deal–as James said in today’s passage, temptation gives birth to sin, and sin gives birth to death. But let’s be realistic, and let’s give credit where credit is due: perfection is God’s business, and imperfection is ours. That’s why we need God’s grace and guidance every step of the way.

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