When Jesus healed the young blind man, He stirred a controversy. Was Jesus really from God or not? The Pharisees, who were like religious lawyers, prided themselves on being able to resolve any theological question. So they interrogated the once-blind man. Their first question was purely factual: how was he healed? But it was a ploy to get the man to admit that Jesus had healed him on the Sabbath - which by their rules was 'working', something prohibited on the holy day.
 
Some considered that Jesus had broken God's Law (really their own interpretation of the Law) and so He could not be from God. Others rightly considered that the miracle was the work of God: who had seen anything like it? The opinion of the healed man was clear - Jesus spoke with the voice of God; He was a prophet. His command to go and wash was the blind man's invitation to believe and obey. When he did, he could see for the first time in His life.
 
It is easy to resist God by 'examining' Him academically. Like that, we feel in control and He seems remote and uninvolved. But when God is at work, close at hand, He challenges every other authority. Those who believe and obey are blessed; but religious legalists feel threatened, and false prophets are challenged. Instead of welcoming the people whose lives have been transformed, they may be persecuted. Although it is very unfair, that is how 'truth-resisters' feel better about their own wrong position, enabling them to continue to defy the authority of God in Jesus Christ. So, today, if you are being challenged or persecuted, be encouraged that you are demonstrating something of the transforming power of Christ. And also please pray for millions around the world who are suffering because they belong to Jesus.