ADJECTIVES AND NOUNS - August 26, 2010
ADJECTIVES AND NOUNS
By Jonno
Jesus healed many people during His ministry on earth. He healed many cripples, paralytics, blind, and demon possessed. Many of these people had no source of income other than begging on the streets of the villages or towns that they resided in. Some would go to the city gates to gain a better chance at a visiting stranger’s charity and good will. Here is one well-known example:
35 As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind beggar was sitting beside the road. 36 When he heard the noise of a crowd going past, he asked what was happening. 37 They told him that Jesus the Nazarene was going by. 38 So he began shouting, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Luke 18 NLT)
The text identifies the man as a “blind beggar” suggesting that he was visually impaired, some say he was blind since birth, and that his profession or vocation or social status was that of a beggar.
Deconstructing this man’s identity a bit further we see that the word blind is an adjective, a word that describes another, for the word beggar, a noun: defined as one that begs; especially: a person who lives by asking for gifts, a pauper, a panhandler. If the adjective of the noun is removed, the noun still exists; which is to say, the man was a beggar whether or not he had the condition of blindness or not.
We know that Jesus healed the man of his condition of blindness; what about the identity of the man as that of being a beggar? After a negative exchange with an unsupportive crowd, who probably knew him well, offering pennies when convenient, the man is approached by Jesus:
41 “What do you want me to do for you?”
“Lord,” he said, “I want to see!”
42 And Jesus said, “All right, receive your sight! Your faith has healed you.”
43 Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus, praising God. And all who saw it praised God, too. (Luke 18 NLT)
His blindness turned to praise, so much so that the previously unsupportive crowd began to praise the Lord as well. The blind man’s response was that he followed Jesus and praised God, and infecting others to praise Him along the way.
Here are the questions: what about the man’s vocation? What about his livelihood? The man was no longer qualified to beg because his condition for begging was removed by divine healing. Did the healing eliminate all possibilities of income? Was the healing accompanied by vocational skills that would afford him the opportunity to make a living outside of begging?
The man’s must have had aspirations and passions burning within him. The man was created to be something in the kingdom of God, and his life was planned long before the foundation of the earth was laid. The answer to all of these questions is simply “I don’t know.” Although the scriptures don’t give the remainder of the man’s life story, here’s what we do know: he followed Jesus and he praised God.
When life serves you a disability or an unfair advantage, remember that life itself is something that God created. Life serves the purpose of God. Because sin, outside of God’s original design, is in the world, there are disadvantage and disabilities that we all struggle with. The truth is that God wants to restore each one of us back to His original design for us. The aspirations, passions, and dreams that we see in our innermost being are God-breathed.
The first step is to follow Jesus. Give your life to the one who paid for yours with His life. He loves you (John 3:16). He wants to remove a few of your adjectives.
The next step is the praise God. God inhabits your praise (Psalm 22:3). Praising God is a non-stop activity drawing the presence of God continually (Psalm 34:1).
The third step is to pursue your passions, aspirations, and dreams with purpose. Realize that your condition and label that you’ve lived with all your life may very well be contrary to who and what God has preordained for you to be (Jeremiah 1:4-5). You are the noun that God declares that you are. It’s bubbling inside you. Just begin to declare it over your own life.
You have been defined.
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