Passage of the Day:
When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16 I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.” 17 “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” 18 Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” 20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you,” Matthew 17:14-20.
Reflection:
Beginning in Luke 9, Jesus divides his 12 disciples into teams of 2. Jesus sends them out into the world, preparing each for ministry, like a test run before Jesus’ ascension into heaven. Meanwhile, one chapter later, Luke 10, Jesus appoints 72 additional disciples to spread the gospel. Jesus gave all 84 of these men the authority to drive out demons and to heal. Unfortunately, one of these 42 teams of 2 failed, unable to heal a man suffering from seizures. Although Jesus didn’t reveal which team was unsuccessful, sometimes the worse that you realize the condition that someone is in, doubt replaces faith. This is the root cause for their inability to fully heal a man with seizures.
Prayerful Action:
He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches,” Matthew 13:31-32.
Developing the Spiritual Guts to Press On:
Some passages in the Bible are designed to make you ponder, “how did these 2 disciples recover from this epic failure?” The greatest athletes in the world don’t lose much, but when they do these are used as teachable moments to avoid making similar mistakes in the future. After experiencing a couple of prosperous decades, I’ve learned more about Christianity in the past 2 years from failure than any other time in my life. Losing knocked me off of my high horse, humbling me by providing perspective to what’s really important in life. May today’s passage teach you the importance of learning from your past failures and mistakes.
Song of the Day:
Final Thoughts:
Where you begin in life, there are a long way from the finish line, heaven. As you fight through failure, may the Holy Spirit give you a spirit of fortitude to keep pressing on.
by Jay Mankus
ExpressYourself4Him 