Sunday, June 8, 2008

Seeing Extraordinary Things

In Luke 5:26, at the end of the story of the healed paralytic, the people who witnessed the event said these words, "We have seen extraordinary things today."  These words have led me to think about my own life and experience and it led me to a question, this one - "When is the last time that I have been somewhere in the presence of Jesus, and I left saying, "Today, I have seen something extraordinary".  Why is that?  Could it be that we see our experience with him always in a controlled manner or could it be that we don't really have big expectations from his presence.  Our experience is always normal, controlled and contained, and well - lifeless.  I have to ask a question:  Do we like Jesus more when he is tame or when he is unleashed?  The Pharisees in the story had a real problem with Jesus as he lived unleashed from the rules of the religious establishment.  The Pharisees wanted to control God and what happens in that relationship with him, and the best way to do that is with rules.  When we live this way, we miss out on the moments like Luke 5.  Where is the expectation of extraordinary?  So, do we want to see the extraordinary things of God?  If so, then we need to let him have complete control and freedom in our lives.  We hold ourselves back.  Q:  What could happen, if a whole group of people wanted to live in the unleashed nature of the Spirit's power?  Maybe we would say that we have seen "extraordinary" things more often.

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