Take Courage, Have Faith :: Deeper Devotion

Take Courage, Have Faith

August 19, 2008

By Glenn Ansley

Matthew 9:2
And behold, they were bringing to Him a paralytic, lying on a bed; and Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, �Take courage, My son, your sins are forgiven.’

What type of “faith in God” do you have? Is it one of earthly substance or of spiritual importance? After “seasons of testing,” are you more grateful for Jesus’ material provisions or His spiritual atonement?

Your understanding of what it means to have faith in God is made clearest through an honest evaluation of your fears. What do you envision as greatest weakness? Unfortunately, most Christians gauge their level of faith with their physical wellbeing. This is wrong. It’s not the way that Jesus sees us.

The paralytic’s friends brought Him to Jesus with great faith. They believed that Jesus could heal their friend’s infirmity. But if not for the Lord’s grace, their faith would have overlooked the paralytic’s greatest need… his spiritual wellbeing. This is an important lesson to learn. What you value as your greatest weakness will determine how you approach the Lord. If life is about feeling good, making friends, or picking the right school, this is where you will measure the “level” of your faith.

If, however, you could grasp the mind of Christ long enough to value spiritual needs as greater than anything else, your world could be turned upside down. A “tested faith” would no longer mean physical pain and emotional darkness, but a body so broken for the world’s sin that it sweats drops of blood… a mind so humbled by Christ that it endures shipwrecks, beatings, and imprisonments to speak light into darkness. A tested faith would entail giving up friends and family to sit among the outcast in hopes of ushering just one more into the kingdom of God.

Is that the kind of faith you’ll search for today? If so, “Take courage…”

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2 Responses to “Take Courage, Have Faith”

anonymous Says:
August 19th, 2008 at 3:00 am
This really taught me something. I never looked at it that way, but now I see that I’ve been looking at my relationship with Jesus the wrong way. Thank you very much for this spiritual lesson.
John Says:
August 19th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
As I was reading this it really touch me.
It reminded me of what I wrote a couple of days ago
From some inspiration while on the bus coming home from downtown Montreal
This is what I wrote:
I do not have a title for this yet but here it is

There is a problem with humanity
People’s thoughts are for vanity
Me me me
To blind to see
The indulgence in ourselves
Gives no room for anyone else
We walk down the streets
People by our feet’s
Starving and hungry
With no money
We act like their no there
No sign of care
From a distance we stare
Close up we do not dare
We judge like we are above
Why don’t we show some love
We got too many presumptions
About their consumptions
Still they need meals
They aren’t objects their real
They have emotions like us
And we’re not flawless
In the end we’re all human
So what are we doing

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anonymous Says:
August 19th, 2008 at 3:00 am

This really taught me something. I never looked at it that way, but now I see that I’ve been looking at my relationship with Jesus the wrong way. Thank you very much for this spiritual lesson.

John Says:
August 19th, 2008 at 5:39 pm

As I was reading this it really touch me.
It reminded me of what I wrote a couple of days ago
From some inspiration while on the bus coming home from downtown Montreal
This is what I wrote:
I do not have a title for this yet but here it is

There is a problem with humanity
People’s thoughts are for vanity
Me me me
To blind to see
The indulgence in ourselves
Gives no room for anyone else
We walk down the streets
People by our feet’s
Starving and hungry
With no money
We act like their no there
No sign of care
From a distance we stare
Close up we do not dare
We judge like we are above
Why don’t we show some love
We got too many presumptions
About their consumptions
Still they need meals
They aren’t objects their real
They have emotions like us
And we’re not flawless
In the end we’re all human
So what are we doing

Take Courage, Have Faith :: Deeper Devotion