Selling Out

I've often heard it said in church circles that someone is "sold out" for Jesus. This is considered a compliment, but it was difficult to even find a definition for the term that could come close to what would be meant by this. I wanted to know what it means to be "sold out" for Jesus.

Today in church we learnt about Jesus healing a blind man as detailed in John 9. I've heard this story, a LOT and I've probably read it dozens of times. But for some reason I never really cottoned on to what happened next in the story.

First of all, the disciples were looking for an earthly reason as to why the man was blind - they were looking for someone to blame. Too often when things dont make sense to us, when things are unjust or unfair we try to look for reasons in the person's past for that person to have been punished so. The truth is, bad stuff happens. And it's not fair, it's not right, and it often makes me really really angry. But, the message in the first half of this scripture is that bad stuff can and will be used to glorify God. What the enemy intends for evil, God always intends for good. If the man hadn't been blind, Jesus wouldn't have been able to show God's glory through this miraculous healing and the message of Jesus' tru identity is revealed.

Of course, this doesn't make the pharisees very happy. Anyone stating that they are the Son of God is not only a challenge to their beliefs but in their culture is deserving of punishment. They investigate the claims of the healed man, but couldn't get the answers they wanted. The truth stood, as it always did, and the man's testimony was far more powerful than their interrogations. In John 9:24-25 the Pharisees ask the man to confirm that Jesus is a sinner. The healed man replies "whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!" For this he was thrown out of the church, becoming in Jewish society an outcast.

I've always thought that being sold out for Jesus meant standing on a street corner screaming for people to repent, or going to some far off country to do missionary work or something radical like that. And it certainly can be. But this healed man did nothing other than tell the truth. He was asked, and he told the truth.

God puts us where we are for a reason, and sometimes instead of wishing we could be radical for Jesus all we really need to do is stand up and tell the truth. Our testimony is far more powerful than anything the enemy can throw at us anyways!