Daily Reading: 27 October

(from www.christianaid.org.uk)

Working on our relationship with God.

Something to read

Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.

- Mark 8:25.

Something to think about

This verse is taken from the account of Jesus giving sight to a blind man. What always strikes me as strange is that Jesus needs two attempts to heal the man and I’ve often wondered why! There may be many possibilities but I want to think of two. 

The first is that the man’s sight is so bad that there is a lot of work to do and Jesus needs to have a second attempt to complete the work. The second is that the man himself was not really sure that this healing was going to work so was unwilling to recognise the incredible work Jesus had done. 

Both of these ideas have lessons for us of course. There are times when we are so far away from God that we need to work hard to get back into a relationship. Not that God is holding back from us, but the further away we have allowed ourselves to go, the harder we may have to work to reach God’s arms which are reaching out for us. 

The second idea is that we need to recognise what incredible work God has done in us and all around us, and what incredible work God can do through us. In all things we must strive to grow closer to God and to recognise signs of God’s presence and glory all around us. 

Something to do

Think of the things where our lack of trust or commitment is distancing us from God and ask for these things to be broken down. Of course, to do this we have to work with God and want these things broken down so that we can get closer to the Lord.

Something to pray

Lord Jesus give me clear vision to see you at all times and a willingness to trust you. Amen.

Today’s contributor is Canon Ian Rees, Rector of Central Swansea, at the time of writing.