Paul wrote to his disciples in Corinth: '... Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.'Well folks, this time I want to discuss about a faith journey. It reflects also my weakness in the past, as far as I recall. And I thought this would be a perfect time to share my faith confession as a reminder for all of us.
Like it or not, consciously or not, sometimes we talk too much about how great our faith is. We proud of ourselves about the miracles we made. We then become arrogant and begin to value and judge other’s faith. Some of us may claim that they can heal sick persons or rise man from the death or cast out demons or do many wonders else in Jesus’ name. We teach others to read the Bible everyday, pray a lot, and have a family altar every morning or evening. We jostle these people for many spiritual advices until their brains become cluttered. We unconsciously learn and talk about Jesus for our own purpose: exalting our own names instead of His. Let me tell you the truth: I used to be like this person. Perhaps, I didn’t know about the real faith is! I was one of the hypocrites! I was faux! I brought conflicts in my family and friends which was not right anymore. But then I realized that I did something wrong. I blamed myself and came to God. Ask Him what’s wrong to be proud? And God showed me this lesson:
It’s is written in the Scripture that everyone who has faith in Jesus can demonstrate spiritual wonders. It’s a God’s gift! Each believer has his/her own special gift according to the Holy Spirit. However, all of us have to use it in order to achieve God’s plan, not ours! Off course I agree that it requires our faith but it doesn't mean that the gift shows a great faith of ours. Let’s learn about a real faith from these following statements:
… if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move… (Matthew 17:20)
... “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the (evil) spirit are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:20)
With these two statements, I then come to the conclusion that the miracle we demonstrate only signs a common faith! Wow! So, when we have a great faith? Let’s see how Jesus reacted on someone else’s faith in other situation:
… When Jesus heard it, He marveled,… I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! (Matthew 8:10)
To get into the point we’re discussing, allow me to ask you and myself 3 questions:
- What kind of miracle did the centurion do, so Jesus became amazed by his faith
- What kind of miracle did Abraham do, so later on he was called as a Father of the Faithful?
- What kind of miracle did Rahab the harlot do, so her name was written in the Scripture as the ancestor of our Lord Jesus?
I know that this article doesn’t contain a sophisticated biblical analysis but I am sure most of us can grab a positive lesson from this article.
Note: Let’s honor and praise our Lord, Jesus, by maintaining peace between churches.
