Ephesians 4:7, 11–16

“But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ… And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we [henceforth] be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, [and] cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, [even] Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”

What a mouthful.  If anyone ever wondered if they had a place in the body of Christ…

1 Thessalonians 4:16–18

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”

When we see all the terrible things happening in the world and we ask ourselves, “What is going on?” we should always remember to have a kingdom perspective… a perspective that says comfort one another with these words.

John 9:1-4

“And as [Jesus] passed by, he saw a man which was blind from [his] birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.”

If it were the Pharisees asking this question I would guess that it was meant as a trick to catch Jesus in some way.  But it came from His disciples, the ones close to Him, the ones who were truly trying to understand.  And so the question came from an honest place.  A place that was taking all of what they had learned growing up, and doing its best to fit it into this new paradigm they had about God… that He was a Father.

You see, they must have been wondering how a loving Father could cause someone to be born blind.  So they looked for an answer.  Someone had to be at fault, they assumed.