Faith is the cornerstone of the effectiveness of the Lord in our lives. If we don't believe in Him, nothing miraculous can be accomplished through Him. Even among His own people, the Lord was unable to accomplish any mighty works.
How do we choose to limit the Lord? What assumptions have we made that, perhaps unknowingly, put limits to our faith? Maybe we assume the age of miracles has passed with the coming of the age of science. Perhaps we think that we're too unworthy to be invited into the power of the Lord. Maybe we assume that the world is too wicked, or people are too stubborn, or a particular person is too evil to withstand the miraculous intervention of the Lord.
Have you ever been disappointed when someone didn't believe in you? Maybe Jesus was disappointed in the same way when the folks in His hometown didn't think He could work any "mighty deeds." After all, they remembered Him from His growing-up years and knew Him only as Mary's boy, a local carpenter. "He was amazed at their lack of faith”, the gospel says. Don't you think Jesus was disappointed too?
Someone once joked that if you tell people that there are five billion stars in the night sky, they will believe you. But put a sign that says Wet Paint on a park bench, and they will have to touch it to believe you. Why is it that we find it so easy to believe some things and so hard to believe others? Why is it that we find it easy to believe complete strangers but doubt those close to us on a regular basis?
It’s not surprising that Jesus faced a disbelieving audience when He went to teach in His native town. As human beings we find it so easy to not believe those whom we should be trusting and listening to. We also find it easier to take offense at those who are closest to us while letting much larger offenses at the hands of strangers go virtually unnoticed, or at least unquestioned. This must be one of those things of human nature we'll never understand.
I’d be willing to bet everyone can remember times when those close to us brought us the truth which was hard to hear. Did we accept what they said and use it to improve ourselves, or did we reject them outright? When we hear the good news of our Lord, do we accept it as it is, as the truth for our good, or do we reject it also?
We need to weed out the barriers to faith, to cast them aside. We need to find out what perceptions we have that stand in the way of what the Lord thinks. And there is only one way to do this; prayer, constant prayer. Through prayer we begin to understand God and we begin to understand the limits of our own knowledge. When we pray for release from our own prejudices, the Lord will oblige in His time.
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