"Gifted!"

 "The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvelous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes." (John 9:30 KJV)

  "Open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in your instructions." (Psalm 119:18 NLT)

 Well then, having looked at the glass that is half empty, it might be time to start to imagine that the glass is really half full, waiting and longing to be filled, overflowing! Some people are just not able to see the good in things, whatever they are looking at, they look for that which might appear to be bad.

 Take this situation, where you have a man born blind, who gets sight, but it is given to him on the sabbath; a day when work is forbidden, and anyone that might work is considered to be a sinner. In this situation, the practical application is to start with the day, as in the day being the sabbath. If the day is first and foremost, then whatever might be done, no matter the good, in the minds of these Jews, it is to be undone because it shouldn't have taken place.  

 Then you look at this same situation from the marvelous work that was done, placing the priority upon that, as if this was surely an act of God; then the actual day becomes less important because God is the one that did the work! If God did it, it had to be good! 

 Anywho, that is what I believe the man who was blind, but now he sees, actually sees! Which is also the point of the verse from Psalms 119:18, as we can sometimes see God's instructions as something that puts the brakes to our desires and wants, as if God is preventing us from having what we want. Funny how that works, because there is more joy in doing what God wants, then in doing what we want; we just might not be looking at it from the right direction! 

 Yesterday I heard a message about the Sabbath Day. As it was instructed, it was said that God gave more instruction on obeying the Sabbath, than He did on any other Commandment. I say, maybe in that portion of Scripture it might have been so, but God is always looking out for what is best for us! 

 When Jesus was asked, "What is the greatest Commandment?" He did not say that it was to keep the Sabbath! But, if we really love God, then we will do whatever He tells us to do, no matter what it takes from our desires or wants...

"You see, we don't go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let there be light in the darkness," has made the light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves." (2 Corinthians 4:5-7 NLT)