Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor.” He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith.
~Mark 6.4-6 (emphasis added)
Have you ever wondered why you haven’t seen any miracles lately? Could it be that miracles may have something to do with the way you look at life?
I know it’s long past Christmas, but I was thinking about the movie Elf when contemplating this passage. Without any “Christmas spirit,” Santa’s sleigh couldn’t leave the ground. But it wouldn’t have done any good to just show people to Santa’s sleigh. They wouldn’t have believed, and it wouldn’t have done anything to boost the Christmas spirit. They had to believe first, and then they would see the miracle.
Not to imply that Christ’s power is dependent on our faith, but this story seems to say that faith has a lot to do with His power in our lives. Simple trust opens the door to many amazing possibilities.
When Jesus’ friend Lazarus died, he spoke to Lazarus’ sister about faith. Her brother just died, and Jesus was asking her about her faith?
But here’s something interesting. She didn’t wait to see a miracle before she believed. She believed, and her gift was an epic miracle.
Her brother came out of the grave.
I wonder if part of why we haven’t seen these kinds of miracles is because we don’t have the faith to believe Christ can still do them. Oh, we know in our minds that Christ has that kind of power still, but that knowledge has yet to creep into our hearts.
If it did, maybe we’d witness everyday miracles as epic as a man coming back from the dead.
(click the pic!)