Of all the aspects of human life that we crave for ourselves, near the top of the list has to be getting control. We want control of our work situation, we jockey for control in our relationships, and we try to control our children long after they become adults. We would control even the weather if we could. 

What usually happens is that we come crashing up against things over which we have little or no control. If we are going to be in God’s cast for his play, we want starring roles. We want to be the mighty hero or the princess. We don’t want to be the sick girl or the boy in a wheelchair. Jesus’ disciples were having trouble processing why God allowed a man to be born with a major disability. They assumed it must have been a punishment: “‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned,’ said Jesus, ‘but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him’” (John 9:2,3).

Jesus’ answer is full of grace. No, the blindness was not a punishment. The man was chosen to be a canvas on which God intended to paint something beautiful. People were going to be led to faith and saved for eternity after seeing what God did in his life. As St. Paul once said, God’s strength was made perfect in his weakness.

Are you willing to let God use your life as a platform for his works of grace?