"Submitted for your approval."

If you are as old as I am, or older, you are familiar with Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone" in which the host, Mr. Serling, would open a lot of his stories with the phrase that titles this blog entry...."submitted for your approval."

 

Well, in the case of this blog entry and all the ones to follow, I am submitting it for God's approval.

As I say in the newly edited introduction, this blog is undergoing a transformation.  I plan to use it to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ!  In past entries I have talked about proclaiming the truth...well the most important truth I know is that Jesus Christ is the Son of God!  It is only through Jesus and his atoning sacrifice that any of us can ever get to Heaven. 

 

Now, you're wondering to yourself "Okay, then, why the new name for the blog itself?"

That's relatively easy!  It has to do with one of my favorite passages from the Gospel of John:

John 9

 

1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.
2 His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
3 Jesus answered, "Neither did this man sin, nor his parents; but, that the works of God might be revealed in him.
4 I must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work.
5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
6 When he had said this, he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, anointed the blind man's eyes with the mud,
7 and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means "Sent"). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing.
8 The neighbors therefore, and those who saw that he was blind before, said, "Isn't this he who sat and begged?"
9 Others were saying, "It is he." Still others were saying, "He looks like him." He said, "I am he."
10 They therefore were asking him, "How were your eyes opened?"
11 He answered, "A man called Jesus made mud, anointed my eyes, and said to me, 'Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash.' So I went away and washed, and I received sight."

Being totally blind, I have a certain attachment to this passage, especially since I first really heard it right after losing the vast majority of my vision to a retinal detachment. 

One of the things about this passage that has always stuck with me, though, is the name of the pool and its meaning..."sent."  This is significant on a number of levels.

 

1. Jesus was sent by God to save us, to die for us, and to love us.

 

2.  We who believe in Jesus and try to live in obedience to Him are sent out into the world to proclaim His good news...his Gospel.  Yes, we are sent, blind and sighted alike, deaf or hearing, disabled in any manner or perfectly able, to proclaim His gospel, His grace, and His mercy. 

 

In my case, however, I haven't been doing a lot of proclaiming.  None that is directly tied to the Gospel of Jesus Christ at any rate.  God, of late, had been left out of the equation.  Events in my life have, consequently, brought me around to where I began to realize that God wasn't the factor in my life He should be...I wasn't surrendering my life to Him.  So, I am proactively changing that.  As part of that, I decided to surrender this blog to His desires for it...for the opportunity to proclaim His truth in all its forms!  I know the labels this will get thrust upon me, but I can handle that. As the Apostle Paul says:

For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes;
Romans 1:16

 

Blessings to you one and all. 

 

In the name above all names, Jesus Christ,

 

Alan Wheeler