Just a Thought! - 25 September 2012

"And Jesus said to him, " 'If You can?' All things are possible to him who believes." Immediately the boy's father cried out and said, "I do believe; help my unbelief."" (Mark 9:23-24)

Jesus said "All things are possible to him who believes", but so often we do not see those things happening in our own lives. We are told by some modern preachers that it is because we do not have enough faith. That if we exhibited more faith, God will do what we ask. But these verses tell us something else, something that we tend to miss when it comes to the topic of how to build our faith.

Seeing is Not Believing

Let us set these verses into context. In the latter part of chapter 7, Jesus cast out a demon, and healed a deaf and mute man. This is then followed in chapter 8 with Jesus feeding the four thousand, and Peter's confession of Jesus being the Christ. Then early in chapter 9 we see the transfiguration of Jesus on the mount with three of His disciples.

All of these events were awe filled events. Jesus showed such authority over the demons, the sick and the natural elements. We even see God the Father telling the three disciples to "Listen to Him." News about Jesus was spreading throughout the nation and many saw things with their own eyes. People were flocking to Him to have their own illnesses healed, to hear His great teachings and to witness for themselves His mighty acts.

Yet right here, in the middle of it all, we read of a man who brings his son, first to the disciples, then to Jesus, to have him rid of the demons that plagued him. But the disciples were unsuccessful. Jesus rebukes them for their lack of faith before turning to the man and asking him to bring the boy to Him. When Jesus asks the man about the boy's condition, the man makes the statement Jesus questions him about in our verses above, "If you can."

Think about it for a moment, the disciples and the people of Israel had seen and heard of Jesus' miracles, and yet here we see Jesus rebuking them for their unbelief. How could these people still not believe? Quite simply because seeing is not believing. At least not believing in terms of the Bible. Biblical faith requires one to believe without having seen the miracles. Note Jesus' words to Thomas after the resurrection, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed" (John 20:29).

Building Our Faith

There are a number of things that we are told to do to build our faith. Read the Bible, prayer, remember what God has done for us in the past, listen to testimonies of God working in the lives of others, read Christian biographies, go to church, or fellowship with other believers. Each of these in their own way can build our faith to some degree, but there is one aspect we tend to miss.

Our faith is ultimately built up by God Himself. The man in our story did not go away and try to build up his faith on his own, nor did e show any pride in the faith that he had. Instead he displayed an attitude of humility. He had some belief as a result of what he had seen and heard, but there was still an element of unbelief that he knew he was lacking. He confessed it and asked Jesus to help him with his unbelief.

We are all like the man in our story. We have enough faith to call ourselves Christian and to pray, but not enough to leave the outcome completely in God's hands. We ask ask things of God only to continue worrying about them afterwards, or even attempt to sort them out in our own strength. Sometimes we wonder if God cares or even hears our prayers.

We therefore need to be humble like this man. We need to confess our lack of belief and trust in God and ask Him to help us with our unbelief. It is God Himself who has given to each of us the measure of faith that we have (Romans 12:3), and only He can give us more.

Just a Thought!

© 2012

Just a Thought! - 17 September 2012

"Jesus wept" (John 11:35)

Just two little words. In fact, this is the shortest verse in the Bible. As brief as this verse is, and seemingly insignificant, it is a profound verse. Let us look a little deeper into it.

Jesus Wept

The Greek of "wept" here literally means burst into tears. It is not just a little sob, but rather it is an all out bawling. The kind you witness at a funeral by the loved ones of a dead relative.

We all weep sometime in our lives. But here we see Jesus Himself weeping. If He were just a man, it would not surprise us, but Jesus was not just a man. He was also fully God. Prior to this event Jesus taught, prayed, cleansed the temple, calmed a storm, fed five thousand with a packed lunch, turned water into wine, healed the sick, caused the blind to see, and the lame to walk. Things that you would expect God to do.

But here Jesus surprises us. What kind of god would show his emotions? What kind of God would cry? As God, surely He expected this to happen and knew what He was going to do? This certainly seems out of character.

So We Did Jesus Weep?

I believe for three reasons. Firstly, Jesus wept because someone had died. Lazarus was a good friend. Jesus had stayed in Lazarus' house. Lazarus' sisters, Mary and Martha, were good friends who trusted in Him.

Death is real. We all realise that, but we wish that it was not true. Everyone we know and care about will one day die. And even when it comes at the end of a prolonged illness, nothing can truly prepare us for it. Here we see Jesus was prepared for the death of His beloved friend (John 11:11 & 14), yet He still wept. But His weeping went deeper than that, and it was not merely due to His lack of being prepared for it.

Secondly, Jesus was empathising with Mary and Martha who were clearly distraught by Lazarus' death. In the Jewish culture, family and friends will go and sit with a person who has lost a close relative and cry with them (called sitting shiva). Jesus knew exactly what He was going to do for them. He knew Lazarus' death was not final, yet He still wept with and for them. So there was obviously still something more to His weeping.

Finally, we are told in verse 46 onwards that due to the raising of Lazarus from the dead, the Pharisees sought all the more to stop Jesus. For them, this was the event that broke the camels back so to speak. It was the miracle that began Jesus' final journey to His death. Jesus, being fully God and knowing that His time on earth was nearing its end, knew what the result of this miracle would be. At this point we see as we read the story that certain people still did not fully understand what Jesus' purpose for coming to earth was. Mary, Martha, Thomas, and the rest of the disciples made comments that clearly show this.

Therefore we see here that Jesus was grieving not only for the death of a beloved friend, and not only in sharing in the grief of the death, but also because of what was to come and the obvious unbelief of everyone else. Shortly after this event we see Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane going through turmoil, sweating drops of blood. Jesus was weeping in anticipation of what was to come.

A Sympathetic Saviour

Here at the raising of Lazarus we see not only a God who can do great things, but also a God who sympathises with our suffering. Jesus, fully man and fully God, creator of the universe, Saviour of the world who will come again as King and Lord of all, weeping, showing sympathy for man, yet agonising over His own death.

Jesus truly was "A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" (Isa 53:3).

Just a Thought!

© 2012

Just a Thought! - 10 September 2012

"For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding." (Proverbs 2:6)

Over the last few weeks we have looked at a number of passages from the book of Proverbs dealing with life, the tongue and anger. So in conclusion, let us remind ourselves again of the source of all wisdom and its implications for our lives.

God is the Ultimate Source of Wisdom

We may gain wisdom from many sources in our lives - pastors, friends, parents, books, television, etc., but their wisdom can be tainted, incomplete, or sometimes just plain wrong. Despite that, all wisdom ultimately has one source, God Himself. Proverbs 2, beginning with the verse cited above, urges us to pursue wisdom and that God will give it to the one who searches for it.

This is an idea that is reiterated in James 1:5, "But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him."

Coupled with this search for wisdom is the illumination of the mind by the Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 2:14-15 we read that, "a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one." The wisdom that we have is not ours because we have learned or attained it in any way, but rather it has been granted and given to us by the Spirit of God.

We have no right to boast about our wisdom, for as we are reminded in Jeremiah 9:23-24, "Thus says the LORD, "Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things," declares the LORD." All we can truly boast about is God Himself.

How God Gives Us Wisdom

As promised in James, when we pray for wisdom we will receive it, however, how we receive it differs from person to person. It may be that He gives you a greater desire for reading and studying the Bible, which will ultimately result in an increase in wisdom. You might find yourself in the company of wiser people who can advise, rebuke, reprove and guide you through the circumstances of life. You might find yourself in a church under the leadership of wise elders and pastors that you can look up to and learn from. He might provide you with a single individual who is willing to come alongside you and mentor you in a certain area of your life. Or maybe He will give you wisdom through books or other resources that He guides you to or provides you with through other people.

God may also allow you to go through certain difficult situation in your life that will help you to obtain wisdom through a hands on, experiential manner. And finally, He may just simply give you the wisdom directly like He did with Solomon.

Irrespective of how God gives you the wisdom, the questions you need to ask yourself are: Are you willing to read, study, and fill your life with God's Word? Are you willing to spend time with wise people like pastors or parents, seeking out their counsel, reason through it and apply where necessary? Are you willing to accept both the negative (rebuke and reproof) and positive (encouragement) counsel of others?

All these voices God can use to give you wisdom. You just need to ask Him and be willing to accept the results, irrespective of how He chooses to do so. Ultimately, your willingness to hear, reason through, and apply will show you and others how much you truly respect and desire the Wisdom God has for you.

Just a Thought!

© 2012

Just a Thought! - 3 September 2012

"A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." (Proverbs 15:1)

Though we have already explored the effects of our words in a previous study, let us look at it specifically in terms of anger.

Thoughts Become Words, Become Actions, Become Habits

In the movie, The Iron Lady, the character Margaret Thatcher said, "Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become your character. And watch your character, for it becomes your destiny." In the context of anger, this is certainly true, for our character is often manifest in times of anger, not only in our words, but in our actions too.

Imagine for a moment what could happen if you are filled with anger on the inside, thinking angry thoughts about people and situations, and then those thoughts become expressed as words towards others. Imagine if those same thoughts and words then became actions. The results could be devastating, not only to the people it is expressed to, but also for yourself. The anger begins to eat you up, it destroys your relationships with others, you become so critical of everyone and everything that no-one wants to talk to you. It even goes so far as to destroy your relationship with God.

But as the quote from The Iron Lady above shows, those things then become habits. It becomes a way of life that you cannot seem to escape from.

Keep Your Cool

Therefore, before anger can become a way of life that destroys our relationships, we need to put a reign on our anger before it manifests itself. In our verse in Proverbs above, we are urged to do that at the point of the tongue. We need to keep our cool when things around us are not as they should be. When others express anger towards us, we need to keep our cool and not answer back in anger.

However, "a gentle answer" also implies a gentle tone of voice. It is not enough to use gentle words, but if we say them in a manner that is harsh, we can cause just as much, if not more, damage than words themselves. In all speech, whether face-to-face, on the telephone, or in public speaking, we need to keep our cool in how and what we say when angry.

But it this is often easier said than done. How do we stop our tongue before we cause any damage? By filling our lives with the Word of God, prayer, and the power of the Holy Spirit. At the end of the day, anger is a choice. We either choose to be angry and express it vehemently towards others, or we choose to be loving so as not express anger in destructive ways. Anger is not a sin, and there are times when anger is necessary, but it is how we express it that can sinful by bringing about destruction or loving as it builds up.

Jesus Our Example

Jesus Himself became angry, but He did not allow His anger to fill Him with such rage that He went out and expressed it in hurtful ways. Jesus expressed His anger rather in ways that built up and brought about positive change. Is that not what you truly want? Do you not desire to see positive change in others? Gentle answers will not only stop anger from manifesting itself in us, but it will also turn away the anger of the other person. It will stop them in their tracks and make them think and probably even start to respond to you in a less angry manner.

The next time you find yourself filled with anger or in an angry, tense situation, stop and think about your response. Are you responding in anger that uses hurtful words and actions, or are you using a gentle approach that is filled with words and tones that build up and not destroy?

Just a Thought!

© 2012