You Don’t Have To Be Amazing!

So, Jesus came down a mountain and found his disciples unable to heal a boy and so he dealt with what was happening spiritually and soon the boy was well again. When the disciples asked him why they hadn’t been able to resolve things themselves, Jesus said:

“You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible. (Matthew 17.20)

Matthew tells us that the illness was being caused by an evil spirit and that Jesus sent the spirit away which resulted in the healing of the boy.

One of the most puzzling thing about the story is that the disciples had already healed and cast out demons themselves (Matthew 10). Was the problem here that they tried to do what they had done before but in their own strength? Did they think that they had the power to deal with demonic forces whenever they felt like it?

Jesus reminded them that they needed to have faith in God and that they only needed the tiniest bit of faith (like a small seed) for God to do a miracle.

Sometimes we might think that we are not amazing enough to do God’s work and I wonder if this is actually a good thing? You see, reliance on God (faith in him) is an essential ingredient in living for God effectively

When I think of people who think they are amazing, I think of King Julien from the Madagascar films.

King Julien is pretty funny to watch, but if people talked to us in real life in the way that he talks to the characters around him then it would drive us mad.

People who think they are amazing are mostly just annoying!

We don’t have to be amazing. In fact. the Bible says that God’s power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12.9).

Is it time to realize and accept that we don’t have to be amazing to serve God?

The God who is amazing will work in us, through us and around us. All we have to do is to have faith in and listen to and be led by him. Sometimes this will mean letting go of our independence and our misguided belief that we are supposed to manage alone.

If you would like, you can read more about what happened up the mountain just before all this happened as well as some thoughts on why we should trust in God rather than giving up.