Ask For More

A fellow in our church's men's Bible study this morning recounted a
sermon from a church he attended in New York last weekend, about how
Jesus healed this blind man partially at first, and then all the way.
After his first touch, Jesus asked if the man could see, and he
responded that everything was blurry, so Jesus touched him again and
fully restored his sight. The preacher at this church remarked that
it would've been tragic if the blind mand had decided after the first
touch that partial sight was acceptable -- obviously much better than
he'd ever had before -- and walked away before Jesus could administer
the second touch. The lesson, of course, was that we ought to stay
with Jesus for the fullness of His blessing, and not be satisfied with
partial healing.

It made me think of another Bible story, that of Elisha (a Christ
figure if there ever was one) and this poor woman who needed money for
her ill son. Elisha asked her what she had in her house to sell and
the poor woman said she just had a small jar of oil. Elisha asked her
to gather as many containers as she could, even from neighbors, and to
pour out the oil into the containers. This little jar of oil
miraculously filled several large containers and kept on going, until
the woman ran out of containers, and then the little jar was finally
emptied. The lesson to me was that God's ability to bless us is
limited only by the number of empty containers we're willing to bring
to Him.

And so I think about this blind man who was healed, and this poor
woman who experienced this miracle, and I wonder to myself if I have
their faith to receive the fullness of blessing from God, or if I am
content with a partial blessing. Perhaps I feel I don't deserve more,
or that I'd be bothering God, or that halfway is acceptable to me.
None of these attitudes glorifies God; in fact, they dis Him.

Better that I exercise greater faith, that I pray bolder and wait
longer and dream bigger. It is easier to settle when settling means a
comfortable, easy life. But our lives, whether we are rich or poor,
healthy or sick, young or old, are more desperate than we know. For
if we could only see with real, spiritual eyes, we would know that we
are on the precipice of either great wonders or great catastrophe. We
can, in Christ, be great and do great and see great for His kingdom
and for this world; or we can live half-lives that are no lives at
all. We may not have the immediately tangible circumstances of the
blind man or the poor woman, but we ought to be like them in their
desperation and desire. We ought not to stop God halfway through Him
blessing us, but rather ask for more.