Settling for Half a Miracle

Pastor Levi shared beautifully on Sunday about the 10 lepers who were cleansed and of only one who returned and thanked Jesus.  As I was reading it during the sermon I was struck by something I had not seen before. When the one returned worshipping and praising God, Jesus said something to him that I had not really seen before, He said, “Stand up and go, your faith has made you well.”  Wait, I thought that he was already healed?  So how come Jesus is telling him now that his faith has made him well?  

 

I looked up the phrase “made you well” and the translation is “your faith has saved you from sin.”  This man alone, out of the ten who were cleansed of the outside infirmity of leprosy, received the complete healing – the second and more important miracle – salvation from sin.  

 

I am struck by how it parallels so many today who see Jesus as what He can do for them on the superficial level – heal my body, provide finances, bail me out of a mess – but as soon as He has done those things they are gone again and have no desire for true relationship with Him.  They don’t want to worship Him or get to know Him deeply and personally and it grieves His heart.  And God’s heart is grieved not for His sake but because He is so sad at what they are truly giving up.  They settle for a part when they could have it all.  Which of us would take $5.00 if we were offered $50,000,000?  Yet so many of us are doing that when we reject relationship with Jesus and want only what He can give us to make like here on earth more “enjoyable.”  

 

Come to Jesus and seek Him more than for what He can give us in this world.  Pursue relationship with Him – that is where the real miracles occur.

3 John_1

Scripture

3 John 1:5

Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you.

 

Observation

John the apostle continues to offer encouragement to many different people. This time he gives encouragement to Gaius by letting him know that his struggles he is facing for others is worth it, and to therefore stay diligent and strong. He even later refers to these “strangers” as friends near the end of the passage, as if encouraging Gaius to get to know the ones he is in ministry with.

 

Understanding

Be patient and steadfast, God places you in a specific place for a reason.

I recently had a conversation with a good friend of mine that really got me thinking. It went a little like this:

“We’ve known each other for a long time now…” *awkward silence on my end as I tried to figure out where she was going with it* She continued despite my silence, “It’s just that in all the time I’ve known you, I feel like I have changed a lot, and you… well you haven’t changed at all.”

“Well, do you think that’s a good thing or a bad thing?” I questioned.

Then she hit me with something that kinda stung, she replied with: “I feel I know everything I need to know about you, but you don’t know the ‘new me’ at all, I’m practically a stranger to you.”

How could one of my best friends change that much in the span of maybe 1.5 years to the point that she was past my recognition? How could I be so unprogressive that time stood still for me and my personality?

Honestly, I viewed unchanging as a bad thing, I saw myself as boring and unenthusiastic. Then I read “you are faithful in what you are doing… even though they are strangers to you.” Yes, I haven’t changed one bit, except I’ve grown in things unseen. My root system has dug deeper into the earth and where my friend didn’t see growth, God saw faithfulness. I was reminded by this passage that I am not done with her or others in my life yet, even if they have become complete strangers to me.

God hasn’t placed us in a certain place by accident or coincidence, He did it with a certain assignment in mind for us. Trust me, I know that sometimes it seems like our prayers or words to certain people aren’t getting through, but I promise God celebrates and rewards those who remain in Him. He even says that if we remain in Him, we will bear much fruit (John 15:5), meaning we can’t fail! So be patient!

 

Life Application

Stay connected to the source that gives you continuous strength. Develop a system that cannot be uprooted.

As Michelle said yesterday, when we cannot recognize false doctrine if we do not know the Truth of God’s Word. In this sense, we cannot understand who we are in Christ or are worth if we do not stay connected to the source that provides an assurance to who we are. Keep moving forward, invest in people even they don’t reciprocate it all the time. A practical way we do this at DSC is our PII cards. Be in a constant state of

Praying for a few people that you would like to see come to know Christ.

Investing in their lives with acts of kindness.

Inviting them to church or church events (like the Family BBQ).

God rewards our faithfulness, but only if we are steadfast enough to remain in Him and His people.

-Allison Khan

2 John 1

Scripture

 

2 John 1:5-6 NIV

"And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.”

 

Observation-What does it say?

Encouragement was given by John to a "chosen lady and her children" to walk in love. The definition of walking in love from the passage was to be in obedience to God's commands. Being in obedience to His commands also meant watching out for those who were teaching false doctrines. 

 

Understanding-What does it mean?

 

Love is walking in obedience to His commands according to His Word.

 

Everything we do as Christ followers needs to be driven by the truth of His Word. There are a lot of false teachings/doctrines about who Christ is and what love is. According to this chapter, some false teachings were that Christ only rose as spirit, but not in physical body. If matched up against Scripture, this is false. 

 

There is also a lot of false teachings about love. Love is portrayed in the media and the world (and has also creeped into our churches) as a butterflies in your stomach, happiness, heart racing, can't live without the other person feeling, but Scripture says otherwise. If love was a feeling, how would we be able to love our enemies (Matt. 5:43-48)? If love was a feeling, how would we be able to forgive (Col. 3:13)? According to Scripture, love is an action and a choice (1 Cor. 13). Love is also discipline (Hebrews 12:4-13).

 

Life Application

 

Read His Word daily and Apply it.

 

We cannot recognize false doctrine if we do not know the Truth of God's Word. The enemy is great at deceiving us through well meaning resources such as Christian books and literature, and well meaning religions that teach about Jesus Christ and even claim to be Christian, but are not. Even some worship songs have an "all about me" tune to it and teach false doctrine. Other ways the enemy deceives is through our own feelings and emotions, where we compromise our integrity and the Truth of God's Word because we are "in love." Our feelings and emotions can also have the opposite effect where we are so angry with someone that we are unable to forgive them from our heart, which Scripture teaches.

 

The best way to recognize the counterfeit lies is to be so familiar with His Truth found in His Word, that we don't know otherwise. That's also how we recognize His voice/the Holy Spirit when He speaks to us. 

 

Dear Lord, I pray that You would give us the desire to make it a daily discipline to be so familiar with Your Word and Your voice of Truth that we wouldn't know otherwise. Please protect us from the deception of the evil one and help us to seek and run hard after You alone. Amen.

 

Resource: gotquestions.org

 

-Michelle Gaddi