We have explored before how so many people that came into contact with Jesus, both friend and enemy, were AMAZED. How amazing, LOL. Well, I want to share with you that Jesus was also amazed……and like Him, I often am also amazed……amazed at people’s unbelief. Why? Because I see so very often, all the time in fact, that unbelief blinds people from the truth and robs them of hope.
Mark 6:5-6 (TNIV)
5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 He was amazed at their lack of faith. Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village.
So, verse 5 begs the question, yes, go ahead and ask it: “Why could Jesus not do any miracles there?” While it is true that Jesus performed some miracles in the face of unbelief (the conversion of Paul comes to mind here….although this healing resulted in GREAT FAITH on the part of Paul)……the general principal at play here is that His great power follows faith! It isn’t impossible for Jesus to heal people that do not have faith……..but ultimately it is faith that gives us hope and heals our lives.
I have heard it said this way, “In the Bible, unbelief is regarded as a mind-set, a stubborn refusal to believe, a moral rebellion, not merely a logical conclusion of evaluating evidence. So the Nazarenes had a moral problem, not an intellectual one. They were hardened in their attitudes. We must ask: Does my lack of faith prevent Jesus from working in my life, my family, and my church?”
Let me try to put this in a similar perspective. I have a great relationship with both of my daughter’s and their families. I love them deeply and they love me deeply. We enjoy much time together….both in person and in spirit. Our lives are all robust, we all have faith that we can depend on each other and not only that….we all want to be a part of the growth and lives of each other.
If one of my daughters were to make a choice to have nothing to do with the family…….I would be sad, hurt and disappointed, however, ultimately, I would have to grant her wish and respect her wish of not wanting to be a part of the family. The point is: oh what she would be missing out on. Yes, I would be missing out on a lot also. But in wisdom, it would do me no good to force her love. In fact, that’s a misnomer isn’t it, forced love isn’t love at all because it takes two enjoy the robustness of a loving relationship. One CAN love…but so much is lost if it’s not shared. Kind of sad, I know.
Maybe that’s why Jesus….(and me…I am amazed too!), was amazed at peoples unbelief. Maybe it is because their unbelief robs them of a robustness in life. It robs them of a loving relationship with their creator, someone that loves them even more than I love my daughters (and, to me that seems like the widest mountain range….I love them with all of my heart!).
Just like our family relationship creates healing for us from outside forces as we go through things together…..unbelief robs people of the deepest healing in their lives. Just like our family relationship provides a daily hope, knowing that as a family we are all together in life………unbelief robs us of our hope. Yes, friends….I am saddened and amazed at the stubborn refusal to believe and join and participate in the greatest family in the our existence…God’s family…..indeed a relationship with our creator Himself…..Jesus.
Don’t miss out on REAL life. Don’t miss out and wake up one day realizing that you have robbed yourself of a great gift…..the gift of a relationship with Jesus. Ask God for a mighty work in your life, and expect him to act. Look with the eyes of faith.
Matthew 9:29 (TNIV) Jesus is speaking
“According to your faith let it be done to you”