The Truth about Abilities and Disabilities

As I entered a building one day, I saw a man with only one leg on crutches approaching the same door. I reached the door first and held it open for him, but he became visibly upset with me. He went to an interior door and demonstrated that he was nimble and strong enough to hold it open for me. Why did he get so mad at me for doing a nice deed? I pondered this question for years. Now, I know the answer. He was mad about what he perceived to be my attitude, not the nice deed. He hated anyone's viewing him as being disabled and in need of assistance. He viewed himself as well able. It's a matter of how we see the vessel. Is the vessel half full or half empty? He thought that I viewed his vessel as half empty, while he viewed the same vessel as half full. This example provides a great lead-in story for a meaningful discussion of abilities and disabilities.

The concept of disabilities implies something is lacking. Each disability is measured relative to a group standard or norm. Let's say the attribute being considered is height. If the norm for the group of men is a height of 6 feet, then a man who is only 5-feet tall would have a disability of 1 foot. If we viewed him as having a 1-foot disability, we would be ignoring all of his other abilities. We would be focusing on what he could not do rather than on what he could do. The list of serious disabilities that exists in the world is far too numerous to cover in detail but relates to such things as sight, hearing and a sound mind.

The world has programmed our thinking in terms of disabilities rather than abilities. People with abilities are generally respected and honored. Much too often, people with disabilities are despised and scorned. Characterizing people by disabilities can lead to a type of prejudice and discrimination based solely on outward appearances without getting to know the truth that lies within a person. Jesus was despised and rejected of men as he hung on the cross because his body had been beaten and disfigured (Isaiah 53:3). Disrespect is the world's typical response to a disfigured body, such as a person lacking a tooth, an eye or a leg.

A perfect body or perfect mind is highly esteemed by men. When men look for women with a "perfect 10" body, they are emphasizing the body above everything else. However, it is good to remember Jesus' teaching: "that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God" (Luke 16:15). Nothing fleshly or natural will glory in God's presence (1 Corinthians 1:29). Even the perfect body and the perfect mind are perishing. Only the life that resides within the spirit man will live forever. Let's focus more on what is inside a person than on their outward appearance. The apostle Paul said "from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh" (2 Corinthians 5:16).

As would be expected, God's perspective on the issues of abilities and disabilities is totally different from the world. When God sent the prophet Samuel to anoint a new king from among Jesse's sons, Samuel chose those who had the outward appearance of being a king (1 Samuel 16:6-13). However, God chose the one who had the heart of a king rather than the appearance of a king. God sees the ending from the beginning and calls things that are not as though they were (Romans 4:17). He calls forth perfection out of imperfection. The word of God says to let those who are least esteemed in the church judge those things that need to be judged (1 Corinthians 6:4). In contrast, the world searches high and low to find the most esteemed people to judge important matters.

Through his words and actions, Jesus demonstrated his perspective about lame, blind, deaf and leprous people. Jesus told a crippled man who could not walk to "rise, take up your bed and walk" (John 5:1-8). He told a blind man who could not go to "go, because your faith has made you whole" (Mark 10:52). When Jesus was surrounded by people with bodily functions below the norm, he was not dismayed or distressed. The words that came out of his mouth about their situations were: "the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them (Matthew 11:5).

By faith, believers can see the blind, deaf and lame as more esteemed than themselves (Philippians 2:3). Like the faith of Abraham (Romans 4:16) and the faith of Peter (2 Peter 11), it takes the faith of Jesus Christ operating through believers for them to see the blind, deaf, lame, as well as others, made whole. Then they will be able to operate in the spiritual realm with power and authority. Believers have the ability to make people whole when they see and believe that they are made whole. Jesus said that believers "will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover" (Mark 16:18). He also said that believers will do the works that he did and greater works (John 14:12). A believer must see people made whole through the eye of faith even when the natural eye sees something less than complete healing. If you believe, you will see people made whole.