Matthew 11:5
The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.
Scripture Insights
I’m sitting in the front room watching my nieces play with their new toys. On the other side, their mother is struggling through her final breaths in life as she fights the last days of her cancer. You might be familiar with this story. You’ve lost people to this tragic disease. She passes at the age of thirty-eight, leaving my brother and her two little girls behind. For months we prayed for healing, and now she’s gone.
The question of why will linger for months, years, maybe even a lifetime. But God is teaching me. Sometimes we pray for God to heal a perceived need, but it’s not the deepest need. I was praying for her cancer, but God was pursuing her heart.
The good news is only good if it changes the heart. You can be cancer free, but without Jesus you’re still dying. You can see again, but without Jesus you’re just blind. It’s why Jesus in Matthew 9 forgives the paralytic before he asks him to walk. The real poverty of this world is people living without hope. The true work of faith is helping the poor receive the good news of Jesus—that’s grace!
Today’s Prayer
Lord, bring someone across our path who needs to know you. Give us the eyes to see them, the ears to listen to them, the arms to embrace them, and the heart to love them well.
—Brad Thompson
Lead Pastor, Be Hope Church (Ohio)
