Straightened Out!

Luke 13:10-13
On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, "Woman, you are set free from your infirmity." Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

After teaching about repentance and warning people not to jump to conclusions about their own righteousness, Jesus comes in contact with a woman that is crippled. For eighteen ears she had suffered. For eighteen years she had endured the stares. For eighteen years she had been handicapped. But then she experiences the Savior. He straightens her up. Notice that he did not straighten her out.

That's what many of us want to do – we want to straighten people out. We love to tell them to get their act together. We shrug our shoulders and wonder why they are the way they are. Maybe we ought to be about helping them get straightened up and not out. Spend our time addresses their needs and not our expectations.

That is what Jesus did and maybe we would be better servants if we did the same. When that happens, maybe people will be more willing to praise God.