Daily Doses of Jesus

April 20

Mark 4:35, 39-40. "Let us go over to the other side.

"Hush, be still.

“Why are you so timid? How is it that you have no faith?"

We shall spend five days discussing this short Scripture passage, which is found only in Mark. It shows us how concentrated is the wisdom of Jesus that is conveyed in the Gospel.

Today’s scenario is the same as yesterday’s. Jesus and friends are traveling eastward across the Sea of Galilee, and Jesus is asleep in the stern. The disciples awaken Him and ask whether he cares about their impending demise. His response is in our Scripture for today, in which He first commands the wind to cease and then addresses His disciples, expressing disappointment in them for their lack of supremely important faith. The Gospel contains many treatments of faith, in which the Lord often points out His disciples’ lack of it.

Faith is not blind. We are not asked to believe in Jesus without good reason. However, some people have strong belief without understanding why, and Jesus praised them for it. (John 20:29) We could call it revelation, inspired, intuitive, the Grace of God, or “I know that I know that I know” faith. God also allows that we believe because of evidence (the apologetic route) or even because of having witnessed some miracle (the “Doubting Thomas” route).

Because there is probably no time in heaven, the inhabitants thereof cannot talk about when they arrived. Most likely, when we go to heaven, we “go home,” having come from that realm and having temporarily been in space-time in order to develop a unique personality and identity. If a person had exceptionally good memory with regard to his originating in heaven, he would tend to have better faith than others. Except with Jesus, this is probably always subconscious, but there seem to some people who somehow detect it to such a degree that they are certain about their Lord.

It is kind of traditional to think of babies as coming from heaven because they seem like such wonderful gifts, and probably we are right to believe that their souls originate “there.” It appears that God programs all of our brains, especially with absolute ethics and a desire to seek the Truth that is Him, before we are born here in time, much in the manner of a computer programmer.

Prayer. Lord Jesus, help us to nurture our faith to the extent that we shall not be able to imagine ever having had any doubt about You. In Your Name, amen.

April 23

Once again our Scripture is Mark 4:35, 39-40.

Faith is involved in the initiation of our tie with the Lord, as well as with the maintenance and development thereof. The more faith we have, the more closely we draw to Him, and, the closer we draw to Him, the more faith we develop. One can begin at any point on this circle, and, thanking, praising, and/or offering love to God will place one in it.

Let us say that we are at some point in time blessed with inspiration from above. This leads to a closer walk with God, and we find this closer walk inspirational with the result that we feel closer to Him yet. Or, one may have something good happen in his life that seems to be divinely directed, and this results in a closer walk with Him, which results in a person’s having greater ability to sense God’s attempts to get in touch, which leads to increased inspiration, etc. In both of these cases, one goes around and around in a circle that is anything but vicious.

Suppose God says to you, “Believe in Me. Have faith,” and you reply, “Show yourself a little, and I will believe a little.” He might reply, “Believe a little, and I will show myself a little.” You (hopefully) reply, “Okay, I believe a little” (or “I offer you commitment”). God then shows Himself a little (we hope; I am not going to try to put words in His mouth or guarantee what He will do or not do.), and you recognize that He has done so. You then respond by believing more, and He shows Himself more. This process continues, and eventually you believe a lot.

What about this? Lord, I have ignored You, and my daughter is very ill. If you will heal her, I will believe and serve you.” Reply: “If you ask a doctor to heal your daughter, what does that entail?” Showing good perception, you answer, “I put trust in the doctor.” “And what is trust?” replies the Lord. “Okay, I see; I have faith in Him.” “Right,” replies God, “and I would like the same consideration.”

The more faith you have in God, the more He will reveal Himself to you. If He made Himself obvious to people not already dedicated to Him, they would tend to love Him because of what He could do for them, and He, like humans, desires to be loved for who He is, as in the old song, "...I love you 'cause you're you.”

Prayer. Dear Lord, let us assimilate all of this material that pertains to enhancement of faith and indeed use it to develop such faith that we shall know that You are the one true God, of all times, of all places, and of all realms within or outside of space-time. Dear Lord, give us understanding in areas of thought that stretch our minds to the limit. Thank You so much for allowing us to understand Your ways and do Your will. We pray in the Name of Jesus, amen.