It Starts Small

I can imagine, if you have read all five days of forgiveness you are sitting there thinking, this all sounds good, but my heart still hurts and that person who hurt me has never even said they were sorry. I get it. I had been waiting almost a decade for someone to step up and take responsibility for their actions and words and to say sorry. To repent, stop what they were doing and make the necessary changes to stop what they were doing.

Healing can feel impossible when there has been no resolution. We desire for them to say sorry. We desire for them to admit they were wrong. We want them to make things right. We want them to take responsibility. But here is the most profound truth about forgiveness, our ability to heal cannot be dependant upon anyone’s choices but our own.

I became aware of this last spring when I started to put two miracle healings of Jesus together. The first we find in John 5.

5 After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ² Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. ³ In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. ⁴ For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. ⁵ And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? ⁷ The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. ⁸ Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. ⁹ And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath. ¹⁰ The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. ¹¹ He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk. ¹² Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk? ¹³ And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place. ¹⁴ Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. ¹⁵ The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole.

We are familiar with this miracle Jesus performed, but I think there’s a deeper message here. We read a man who was unable to move himself to the pool. He needed the cooperation of another person to get him down to the water. So when Jesus came and asked him, the man’s answer seems a bit surprising.

Jesus: DO you want to be made whole?
Man: Yes, but…………..

Is it not amazing that he was so focused on what he needed others to do, that he almost missed what Jesus COULD DO?

Lets pause a moment. Jesus is with you right now, asking to make you whole, and your answer is yes but_______________________________. What is holding you back from Jesus making you whole. What do you think has to happen first?

Without one word, Jesus instructed Him to get up. All at once the man was healed. That healing did not involve anyone BUT JESUS! I know, you asking, is it that simple? Absolutely!

The other miracle healing is found in John 9.

9 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. ² And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? ³ Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. ⁴ I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. ⁵ As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. ⁶ When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, ⁷ And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing. ⁸ The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? ⁹ Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he. ¹⁰ Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened? ¹¹ He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight. John 9:1-11

There is a lot of layers to unpack here, so we will try to stay focused. We find the disciples asking Jesus an interesting question: Did sin or his parents cause his blindness. It was common practice to believe that a physical deformity was caused by generational sin or a person’s own sin.

But Jesus threw there assumptions out the door. Look again what he says:

³ Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. John 9:3

Jesus did not condemn this man. Jesus did not shame him. He did not place blame on this man. He spit on the ground, made some clay, and placed it on his eyes. then he instructed the man to go wash his face. Notice there is nothing to his healing contingent on anyone else or anyone else’s actions. It was between him and Jesus.

Jesus gave an instruction and the man obeyed. Jesus healed. The blind man moved forward. Do you see it yet?

My ability to move forward, to see beyond the darkness, is between myself and the Lord. It is not dependant upon getting a sorry. It is not dependant upon someone else owning up and taking responsibility for their hate and cruelty. I DO NOT need to wait upon another to do anything. I just need to obey what God is asking me right now.

God gives us a new way to see. It’s forgiveness and it is an incredibly beautiful thing!

Our ability to heal is our choice. We can remain motionless, paralyzed and blind. Suffering in self pity on the side of the road waiting for what may never come. OUr ability to heal is no dependant upon those who hurt us to receive adequate consequences for disobedience. Our healing comes from our choice to be in obedience to trust God’s justice whether we see it or not.

My healing was my choice. Your healing is your choice. I say that with the greatest love and compassion. We can heal. We can forgive. None of it has anything to with another person and not one can hold it hostage, but you.

Forgiveness Part 1: Why is Forgiveness and Double Edged Sword?
Forgiveness Part 2: When Unchangeable Feels Unforgivable
Forgiveness Part 3: The Cure for a Heavy Heart
Forgiveness Part 4: My Anger
Forgiveness Part 5: Transformed Feet and Eyes