Several weeks ago, a woman in our church came to me at the conclusion of the evening and requested prayer. The expression on her face revealed the fear and desperation in her heart. Her doctor had informed her that she had advanced glaucoma and that she would soon be blind; there was nothing that could be done to prevent the inevitable. He advised her to make the necessary preparations. He also made an appointment for her to see a specialist that she might receive the best possible care. She now stood before me, her Pastor, asking me to pray. As she stood before me in need, she obviously had some degree of hope that God would intervene.
Four days later she returned to Church with a huge smile on her face. The specialist, following his examination of this woman’s eyes, seemed shocked by the previous diagnosis. “I can find nothing wrong with your eyes”, he proclaimed. “There must have been some sort of a mistake made by your previous doctor in his diagnosis.” With much joy in her heart, she stood and testified to all present that day about her healing miracle.
Oh, wait just a minute. I know what you’re thinking. There was no healing miracle. It was a simple mistake made by the first physician. Perhaps. Or, perhaps not. The choice is yours to make. But, it is not what you choose to believe about the original diagnosis with which I want herein to take issue. Rather, I want to address what I believe is of far greater concern.... our own deeply rooted selfishness. Our unwillingness to be fully, totally, completely filled with joy for someone else’s healing. Our inability to allow someone else’s miracle to encourage and sustain us as we wait for our own. Our failure to allow an unfettered joy, the result of being a witness to God’s great healing power, to fully satisfy our desperate longing to personally be the recipient and benefactor of the same.
Yes, I heard and watched as the church gladly acknowledged her public
testimony with warm applause. I cannot judge whether the individual
response was prompted by sincere belief or just simply an effort to be
polite, only the Lord knows. Yet, in the days to follow, our collective
gladness over this miraculous healing didn’t seem to translate into an
increase in evangelistic fervor. Our gatherings in the weeks to come showed no evidence of any person being led by a friend to an altar of prayer for healing. There was no increase in the number of those attending midweek prayer meetings.
On the contrary, what I heard in the weeks to come were complaints about the absence of God’s power in the Church today. The absence of God’s power!!???? Did I miss something, or did I not just witness the mighty healing power of God to heal the blind being manifested among His beloved Church?
Where does this complaint come from? I conclude that it can only come from one of two places: discouragement or selfishness. The latter obviously far more serious than the first.
CONTINUED.... PART II TO FOLLOW
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