Faith And Obedience

Jesus traveled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. News about him spread as far as Syria, and people soon began bringing to him all who were sick. And whatever their sickness or disease, or if they were demon possessed or epileptic or paralyzed—he healed them all. Large crowds followed him wherever he went—people from Galilee, the Ten Towns, Jerusalem, from all over Judea, and from east of the Jordan River. [Matthew 4.23-25]

Want a little insight into God and the life of Jesus? Here it is.

Jesus demonstrated what walking by the Spirit of God looked like! For one thing, it looked like a wake of healed people! It seems at first that everywhere Jesus went, folks were delivered.

How did it get from this to the later statement that in His hometown Jesus could not do many works because of the people's unbelief?

What about Jesus' message caused those in His hometown to not believe? Did they not need healing too? Did they not need deliverance too? Perhaps they felt entitled because Jesus was their hometown boy instead of feeling faith?? Perhaps the message of the Kingdom, in its fullness (which involved much more than just 'healing'), required more than those (who knew Him and His Message well) in His hometown were willing to comply with??

Think about it. If Jesus was sinless (and He was), its not like His hometown folks knew of any sin in His life that foreigners would not know about. So, what was it that made them, in their familiarity, not believe Jesus? I believe it could only have been the fact that they knew His Message more thoroughly than others would - and because that Message involved total and complete submission to the Spirit and will of God, they were bypassed by the power of God. Jesus could not do any mighty works among those who consciously rejected His entire Message (seek first the Kingdom of God, forsake all and follow Him, etc.).

Once the words, submission, surrender, and servitude come out in the teaching about pleasing God, many will go away sad. The rich young ruler went away sad - he chose to not submit to Jesus' demands on his life. Faith is an obedience and the obedient then will naturally have the potential for greater faith. Disobedience short-circuits faith. Faith is the only thing that pleases God.

Bottom line: to get to know Jesus more is to understand that complete surrender to God is the only option. Refusal to submit incubates a faithless condition in the disobedient. This is precisely why new Christians sometimes experience great miracles in their lives only to find later in their walk that those miracles seem to be a thing of the past. I have heard this over and again from seasoned Christians - including myself. What changed? Well, it certainly was not God.

Father, please help us to see that relationship with You - through Jesus - is an easy yoke, but a yoke nonetheless. Help us to understand that our lives are not our own. Help us to submit more today that yesterday. Help us to grow in faith AND obedience.