One thing...

A man. Blind from birth. His life destined to bring glory to God.

He encounters Jesus. It gets messy. Then Jesus tells him to go to the Pool of Siloam (which means ‘sent’).

He does what Jesus says. His life is forever changed. He comes home seeing.

People see a difference, a change. They can’t quite figure out if it’s even the same man. So they ask questions – what happened, how did this happen, where is the man that did this…? They ask him once, twice… they still don’t get it. They ask his parents. They ask the guy again… what happened?!

‘He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”’ (John 9:25).

I think we have a tendency to make evangelism a lot harder than it needs to be. You don’t have to have all the answers to be effective in your witness for Jesus. You don’t have to have studied Theology at university or in seminary. You don’t have to have memorised the whole Bible. You don’t have to have all the answers to every deep and difficult question of apologetics…

You do have to use your voice.

One thing…

Here it is again. One thing. Just one, simple, thing. And it always comes back to Jesus.

This was who I was before I met Jesus. This is what Jesus did. This is who I am now.

Meeting Jesus often gets messy. There can be mud flying all over the place. We can be asked to do things that don’t make much sense. And you can count on the fact that Jesus is always going to send you somewhere in the process. At the end of this story, the Pharisees still don’t believe, they still choose not to accept or listen to the man’s testimony and even end up insulting him and saying he was “steeped in sin at birth” which, incidentally, Jesus has already told us in v3 that this is not the case – “this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

But our job is not to change hearts and minds. Our job is to tell the one thing that Jesus has done for us. Our lives will always look different after we’ve been in the presence of Jesus and it should make people ask questions. Each and every one of us started off blind. Born with attitudes, characteristics, and elements of our personalities, circumstances or physical bodies that are not as they should be. We all need Jesus to restore to us our sight once again. That we might see clearly who He is and, when he reveals himself as he did to this man, respond with belief and worship. Just like this blind man was born so that God might receive glory when others witnessed his transformation, healing, and encounter with Jesus, we too were born for the same. For such a time as this. “‘Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.’ But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have…’ (1 Peter 3:14-15).

One thing. Just tell them the one thing.

Jesus. It’s always going to be Jesus.