I would like to begin this article by thanking the Manslick Road Church of Christ for inviting me to come and do the adult class for their annual vacation Bible school. We had great participation from the adults as well as the kids all week long. I hope that a lot of good will come out of the work done last week. I know it will. I would also like to thank the congregation here at Northwest for allowing me the time to go and do that. I am thankful to Chris for stepping up and taking my place last week. It is such a blessing for a congregation to have not just men capable of doing the work, but men willing to do the work. Praise the Lord for men like that! I am very thankful for a number of things from last week. And, with that said, I would like to share one more of those things with you.
It was about a quarter until 10AM last Friday when a man walked into the auditorium where we were about to do the last adult class for the week. I immediately noticed that a man (who turned out to be his brother) was leading him through the building to their seats. I didn’t notice the gigantic black seeing-eye dog until a little later. They took their seats right in front of the podium I would be using and we started talking. In that short conversation, I believe that I learned more about real faith than in a lifetime of study. Even though he couldn’t see it, I cried at how beautiful his faith was.
His name was Dave. He was in his late forties or early fifties. He had lost his sight in an accident several years ago. He didn’t say much more about how he lost his sight, but he said some things related to it that just blew my mind.
One thing he said to me was that losing his sight was one of the best things that could have ever happened to him. I don’t know, maybe he sensed my skepticism, but he continued to tell me why it was such a blessing. He told me that, since he lost his sight, he realized that he never has to worry about the “lust of the eyes” (1 John 2:15-17) anymore. He told me that this was a huge struggle for him throughout his life and that he was so very thankful that the Lord took that struggle away from him.
Another thing he said to me was that, since losing his sight, he has met people who he would never have met otherwise, people who were in similar situations both physically and spiritually. As such, he was able to tell them about Jesus, about the One who had the power to make lame men walk, make the blind to see, and to even raise the dead to life everlasting (Matthew 11:5; 15:31). And, as a result of that, several of them have come to church with him on a regular basis.
One final thing of which I will relate to you is this: right before class started and our conversation ended, he said something that made me tear up. He told me with tears in his own blind eyes that he was excited that the next thing he would see would be the Lord God Almighty welcoming him home.
Friends, THIS is REAL faith! REAL faith understands things beyond the physical world (Hebrews 11:1-3). REAL faith causes a person to walk by their faith and not by their sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). REAL faith brings other people to Jesus’ healing hands (Matthew 9:27-31). REAL faith allows a person to hear those beautiful words spoken by the Lord in the Last Great Day: “Well done, good and faithful servant... Enter into the joy of your Lord” (Matthew 25:21, 23).
How beautiful it is to see faith like this! Let us all strive for a similar type faith!
~Curtis Carwile
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