A Devotional as Reflection on the Sermon--> "Transform: Love Leads"
- mpenman31
- Jun 29
- 4 min read
Scripture focus- John 9:35-51
There is a kind of love that waits for us to come looking. But the love of Jesus is not passive. It does not stand at a distance with folded arms. It does not say, “Let me know if you need anything,” while we sit wounded, rejected, confused, or alone. The love of Jesus moves first. It hears. It comes near. It finds.
In John 9, the man born blind has already experienced a miracle. His eyes have been opened. His testimony has been spoken. His healing has become undeniable. Yet the very people who should have celebrated his transformation instead put him on trial. They interrogated him, dismissed him, and cast him out.
But rejection did not get the last word.
Jesus heard that the man had been cast out, and Jesus found him.
That is the tenderness at the center of this passage. The man is not defined by the room that rejected him. He is not reduced to the institution that could not receive his testimony. He is not merely the person others pushed outside. He is someone Jesus went looking for.
That truth matters for us. Sometimes healing changes the way people relate to us. Some people know how to manage our brokenness better than they know how to honor our growth. Some people are more comfortable pitying us than receiving our testimony. Some people preferred us when we were blind, dependent, unsure, or silent.
But Jesus’ love is not threatened by our healing. Jesus does not abandon us when our transformation costs us relationships, approval, or belonging. Love finds us, even when we have been cast out.
Yet Jesus does not only find the man. Jesus reveals Himself to him.
The man knows what Jesus has done, but Jesus invites him to know who Jesus is. This is the deeper movement of faith. It is possible to have a testimony and still need revelation. It is possible to know that God brought us through and still need to know God more deeply. It is possible to celebrate the gift while still needing to surrender to the Giver.
Jesus asks, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” The man responds with openness: “Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” He is not resisting. He is ready. He has seen enough to know that he needs more. He has received enough mercy to become available for deeper truth.
When Jesus reveals Himself, the man says, “Lord, I believe,” and he worships.
Worship here is not just an idea in the mind. It is not simply a polite religious response. It is embodied surrender. It is the soul bowing low enough for the whole life to follow. Real revelation does not simply make us smarter. It makes us humbler. It moves from explanation to adoration, from testimony to trust, from gratitude to surrender.
The question is not only, “What has Jesus done for me?” The deeper question is, “Has what Jesus has done led me into worship?” Has mercy made me humble? Has grace softened me? Has being brought through made me more obedient? Has being found outside made me more willing to say, “Lord, I believe”?
Finally, love exposes.
That may sound uncomfortable, but it is still love. The love of Jesus does not expose us to shame us. It exposes what keeps us from receiving life. In this passage, the man who knew he was blind receives sight, but the religious leaders who insisted they could see remain blind. Their problem was not limitation. Their problem was denial. Their danger was not need. Their danger was refusing to admit need.
Jesus is not condemning people for needing mercy. Jesus is exposing the pride that says, “I do not need mercy.” He is exposing the posture that would rather defend itself than be healed. The beginning of healing is often the willingness to pray, “Lord, where am I blind?”
That prayer is not weakness. It is wisdom. It is surrender. It is the opening through which grace enters.
Love finds us when rejection has named us. Love reveals Christ when we are ready to know more than what He has done. Love exposes the pride, denial, and self-protection that keep us from being led by God.
And when we surrender, life begins to move differently. We do not have to fight every wind by ourselves. We do not have to prove we can see everything clearly. We can let the Spirit lead us, guide us, correct us, and carry us. We can stop pretending we know the whole channel. We can trust the One who sees what we cannot.
The invitation of John 9:35–41 is simple, but it is not easy:
Let Jesus find you.
Let Jesus reveal Himself to you.
Let Jesus expose what still needs healing in you.
Then bow your life before Him and say, “Lord, I believe.”
Reflection Questions
Where in my life have I allowed rejection, disappointment, or being “cast out” to define me more deeply than the truth that Jesus still finds me?
Do I tend to seek Jesus mostly for what He can do for me, or am I also willing to let Him reveal more of who He is to me? What would deeper relationship with Christ require of me right now?
What evidence of God’s mercy, healing, or provision have I experienced that has not yet fully moved me into humility, surrender, worship, or obedience?
Where might I be saying “I see” too quickly? What part of my life, attitude, theology, relationships, or self-understanding might Jesus be lovingly exposing as blind, prideful, or resistant?
In my relationships with others, do I make space for people to grow, heal, and change, or do I hold them captive to who they used to be? How can I practice a love that finds, reveals, and restores rather than judges, rejects, or controls?
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