Good morning, dear ones.
I think I will forgo my old man jog. I have so much on my list for today that I didn’t even think I would be able to pull off this little composition. But after starting to write, I guess I found it kind of hard to turn off the flow. I need to get out to the studio now and take on a very challenging graphics job—installing some white stripes on a big blue truck. I could do a painted application, but I’m opting for a vinyl application. It’s not going to be easy to align everything and work around all the obstacles. Then I need to finalize everything to be ready to haul that shed to Medford, departing early tomorrow morning.
May your day be a piece of cake—well, at least work together for good. Love, Ray.
This is another one of those statements from Jesus that can be easily misrepresented, misconstrued, and misunderstood. While I will not claim flawless understanding, I am certain that I would be in error to believe I could use this statement as a kind of Christian magic formula—that if I believe hard enough I will get what I want—kind of like, “When you wish upon a star your dreams come true.”
“All you need to do is to keep on believing.” Believing what? Well, since Jairus was a Jewish believer, he needed to believe the Jewish Scriptures that point to Jesus as something more than just a nice guy running around with healing powers—but the very fulfillment of the promised Savior/Messiah. That’s a good place to start. He would also be benefitted (like we should be) to have been able to hear Jesus’ fantastic words to Martha in John 11:25-26—“I am the Resurrection, and I am Life Eternal. Anyone who clings to me in faith, even though he dies, will live forever. And the one who lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (The Passion Translation) Another valuable Biblical belief to maintain is the one we cited yesterday—that Jesus is the One Who has ALL POWER AND AUTHORITY IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH (Matthew 28:18). The practical application that flows from that belief is that if you remain close and devoted to Him, He has you covered in both realms—on earth and in heaven—both now and forevermore. Similar to that belief is to really believe Romans 8:28—“So we are convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together to fit into God’s perfect plan of bringing good into our lives, for we are his lovers who have been called to fulfill his designed purpose.” I believe that if this is not enough for you to believe so as to keep you safe, sound-minded, faithful, and fear-free, well, sorry, but I have reason to fear for you.
Perhaps we could appropriately modify and insert the challenge we focused on two days ago—“Haven’t you learned to trust / BELIEVE yet?" (Mark 4:40, TPT). After all, isn’t that what the Bible is good for—as “his designed purpose”?—to help us live life faithful (full of faith) and free from freaking out from stuff we already know can and does happen in a fallen world?—learning to trust and believe? So it really boils down to our choice. We can freak out if we want to. But it’s sure not necessary—if Biblical revelation is to be believed.