"Open Wide!" - To

 "If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every wit whole on the sabbath day?" (John 7:23 KJV) 

  "Then God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died?" "Yes," Jonah retorted, "even angry enough to die!" Then the LORD said, "You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly. But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn't I feel sorry for such a great city?"" (Jonah 4:9-11 NLT)

 Okay, so as you might have known, I have been dealing with something of a trial for over 18 years; not that I am complaining about it, because it has actually been something amazingly special. If I do actual complain, my complaints are directed towards God, as it is only God that can do anything about it. 

 Without getting into too much personal information, let me just say, taking care of my wife is more than just a blessing, it has become more of a passion, which is exactly what I believe that Jesus is getting at with His complaint over the attitude of these Jews. Where is their compassion and desire to see the good in healing a man, no matter what day that a person is healed upon, it should be a good thing! 

 If those that are calling themselves godly people, cannot see or understand that God is good, how can they begin to open their hearts to the goodness that is done by God? I cannot begin to tell you the number of times I have prayed for my wife, that others have prayed for us both, and that people have tried to make something happen by praying over us. What is it that makes this not good, besides the fact that my wife is stuck in this condition? 

 I know in my heart that my wife is going to be perfectly fine, and one fine day, it is going to happen! In the meantime, my obligation is to keep her comfortable and love on her as much as I possibly can. The rest is totally up to God; I will not attempt to speed things up, nor slow them down; and I will not let her die, but I will allow her to die, when it is time that God calls her home! 

 That might have been a little too personal, but I think you get the message. It is basically about being committed to your calling, whatever that calling might be. If God has called you out of the darkness and into His Light, then commit yourself to those things of the Light, and move away from those things which are of the darkness! 

 It must not just be a notion, it needs to be a passion, and your heart really needs to be in it...

"As God's partners, we beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of God's kindness and then ignore it. For God says, "At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you." Indeed, the "right time" is now. Today is the day of salvation. We live in such a way that no one will stumble because of us, and no one will find fault with our ministry. In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind. We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food. We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love. We faithfully preach the truth. God's power is working in us. We use the weapons of righteousness in the right hand for attack and the left hand for defense. We serve God whether people honor us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us. We are honest, but they call us impostors. We are ignored, even though we are well known. We live close to death, but we are still alive. We have been beaten, but we have not been killed. Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, yet we have everything.

"Oh, dear Corinthian friends! We have spoken honestly with you, and our hearts are open to you. There is no lack of love on our part, but you have withheld your love from us. I am asking you to respond as if you were my own children. Open your hearts to us!" (2 Corinthians 6:1-13 NLT)