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Jesus and Faith [Mark 16]
14Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen.15And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.16"He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.
Jesus was all about faith and faith in Him as the Son of God. I can't imagine the frustration He felt at the 11 when they would not believe the word of their fellow Christ followers that they had seen the risen Lord. It would have been easy to just walk away and admit that getting these hard heads to believe in Him was a useless waste of time for the Lord of the Universe. But, Jesus did not give up and He simply rebuked them for not believing the others. Then, He sent them out to tell other about Jesus so that they might believe! If the very ones who had been with Him and witnessed His miracles and teaching had a hard time believing, how amazing that so many of us have accepted Christ since those early days. Jesus knew what He was doing when He chose those 11 and He knew what He was doing when He commissioned them to go preach the gospel. And what Jesus did turned the world upside for those of us who have believed ever since.
May your faith grow as you look to Him, the source of faith and may you extend His kingdom by telling others about what Jesus did for you and what He will do for them if they believe. We can cry out along with the Father in Mark 9 who said, "I believe, help my unbelief." He loves to answer that prayer!
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Beth Warlick, 2/20/2009 |
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