Saturday, June 09, 2007

Shhhh! Don't tell anyone!

If you were blind and someone came up to you, restored your sight, and then told you to keep it a secret, would you? Or maybe I should ask, could you? It would be pretty hard for your friends NOT to notice it - unless they were blind themselves. Which is a possibility since people tend to identify themselves with those who are similar...

Aaaaaanywaaaaaaaay, I'm referring to a miracle of Jesus in Matthew 9: 27-31 (NIV) where He restored the sight of two blind men and then told them not to say anything about it. But they didn't listen and instead spread news about the miracle all over the region. It seems prima facie logical for someone who had their sight restored to be extremely happy and want to tell everyone they know (and even people they don't know) what happened. This is the kind of stuff that makes headline news. So why would Jesus try to keep it hush-hush?

Earlier in chapter 8 of Matthew, Jesus told the man he healed of leprosy not to tell anyone but instead to show himself to the priest. Why wouldn’t Jesus want word to get around about His power and authority from God? Wouldn’t it be good news that the Lord has come and shouldn’t everyone be told? Interestingly enough, in Mark's account of the healing of the man with leprosy he writes:

“Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.” Mark 1:45 (NIV)

Here we see why Jesus told those people to keep their quiet. Jesus’ ministry was about more than simply being a miracle worker. He came to teach and to reach as many people as possible. This ministry of His would be hindered if His status suddenly became celebrity-like and He was mobbed with sick people just wanting to be healed. Yes, His miracles served as a sign for His authority under God; but Jesus came to teach about the kingdom of heaven and offer eternal life - not just a quick fix of the physical ailments of those who were ill. As Mark states, because of the crowds of people Jesus was no longer able to enter towns and He had to eventually leave Galilee.

I guess what I took from this was that, like Jesus, we all have specific ministries we are called to do by God as members of the body of Christ. Once we realize this and pinpoint it, we need to maintain our focus and not be distracted. Even seemingly good things can be detrimental to our ministry if it’s not what God has called us to do. Like a football team, there are many positions to play and everyone specializes/excels at a certain one. If one guy started to play offense, defense, and special teams all the time, he'd either be burnt out in the first quarter or he'd have to lower his game-play to mediocrity in order to conserve his energy.

In the past, I’ve been in situations where it seems like I’m just swamped with things to do - all good things and all things that I thought were important. Even just having that mentality of trying to be everyone’s best friend. It’s just not realistic. Looking at Jesus’ disciples, there were those that were closer to Him like Peter, James and John. Someone wise once told me that you can’t do everything on your own and it’s not just a matter of having more faith and relying more on God’s power and grace…it’s unbiblical. When I’m spreading myself out so thin, the effectiveness of my efforts are diminished.

So I guess this reminded me that, like Jesus, I need to pinpoint my primary ministry (which is often related to strengths/gifts); set boundaries and act in a way to maximize the effectiveness of my primary ministry; and commit myself 100%. It's good to stretch myself and let God fill in the gaps. But if I overstretch, tear my muscles and become incapacitated, it becomes counterproductive. It's all about that fine line that's always so hard to balance on...

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