Pastor Joe Sanders - April 24, 2011
From Tragedy to Belief
We mistake God's promises of blessings and overcoming this world for the absence of suffering or an abundance of material possessions. We assume that the Lord's promises to provide for his children mean that those children never experience heartbreak, challenge or pain. We find in John a story of a royal official and his sick son and their encounter with Christ. What starts out as the darkest of days ends in a surprising and challenging way. The amazing healing that takes place in this story and the way that Christ pushes this man to a life- sustaining belief is a foreshadowing of Easter when Christ dies for our sins and returns from the grave- the most incredible of stories! Then as now, Jesus is interested in our belief, in pushing us to go beyond signs and wonders and to answer the questions, "What do you believe in? Do you believe in me?" Easter is the greatest evidence that Christ is using every tragedy to move us to a higher, more complete level of belief.
Scripture References: John 4:46-54