Faith is blind—except upward. It is blind to impossibilities and deaf to doubt. It listens only to God.
~Samuel Dickey Gordon (1859-1936)
And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
~ Jesus, King of The Universe, and Son of His Dad, in Matthew 17
Oh beloved, it is true. The Son who died for us was no wimp. And it was not because He had a case of self-confidence (even though this would have been appropriate). No this Self-emptied King of the universe had plenty of strength to deal with everything, because He knew exactly Who was the Source of His strength.
His Dad.
It is easy for us to say that it was easy for Jesus to get through life on earth. After all, He was G_d, wasn’t He? Yeah. He was (and is, and is to come). But, He was also completely and utterly a man. And a man (read human being) faces an onslaught of temptations that cover the range of our weaknesses.
Even further, this Jesus was known by every force of darkness in the heavenly places. So surely, these forces were unleashed against Him. For, if they could get the Messiah to stumble, the entire plan of redemption would have been ruined. One little sin, or failure and the entire scenario would unravel.
And Jesus smashed every temptation out of the park.
Every opportunity to fall to His own potential weaknesses was not only avoided, but shown to be a strength. Now remember, Jesus was G_d, and so He surely knew things that we do not know. But in living out His life here as a real man, He showed us that it is indeed possible for us to live above failure in our existence. How?
Back to His Dad. And The Spirit between Them Both.
Jesus gives compelling insight into His strength in life here on earth.
He utterly delighted in His Father
He did not speak but His Father prompted Him
He was completely confident in His Father
He did not act but His Father guided Him
He was certain His Father heard Him when He spoke
He lived like He was completely guided, possessed, and owned by the Father.
Exactly.
There was something about Jesus that He was showing us about how Life works. Our lives do not work when we are alone and trying to do it on our own. We do not just need to be near people and feel their warmth and support. No, we are utterly unable to live on our own. We were Designed to live in multidimensional relationship with G_d Himself.
Him in us. Us in Him. Intertwined into co-immersion; the Holy Spirit (read He Himself) being the bonding agent. Apart from a life like this, there is no real life – only a gross falling short of the glory of G_d, and a doom of eternal separation from Him.
Jesus showed us what a life of faith really is. It is not just doing life at some super-high level of performance. It is not just having some highly-tuned level of belief in the ability of the supernatural to perform some sort of amazing feat. No, the Life Jesus lived was simply a profoundly deep Love affair with His Father. This same Father is The One who carries titles such as
L_RD of Hosts
The Eternal One
The Father of Life
G_d our Banner
G_d our Provider
G_d Almighty
The Ancient of Days
The All Sufficient One
Abba (Daddy)
And in living as closely as He did to His Dad, there simply was no fear in this Man Jesus. Fear would have been an anomaly, because it would have been the opposite of His confidence in the unshakeable, unbreakable, unstoppable Love of His Dad.
Can we see it? This is what walking in the Spirit is. It is walking as Jesus walked…. It is walking in utter dependence and complete confidence in the Love of the Father for us all…. It is walking through the darkness in this world, whistling about the Day to come which will never end…. It is walking and simply knowing we are Loved beyond any ability of our words, or actions, or even of our spirits to yet comprehend.
It is walking in such a way that we know His heart so well, that when we ask for anything, it is already because we both want it. He has somehow prompted us in our hearts to ask for that which He already wants to give. Us in Him, and Him in us – a tiny sliver of a shadow of the eternal communion this Triune Being has already enjoyed.
So, what made Jesus so tough? He knew a Guy Who was (and is, and will be) Amazing. Do you know Him? This fool of a writer does, and every day the fear keeps bleeding away. Behind the loss of fear comes only a growing sense of the Love who made the worlds and Who is moving in the same, to bring about my, and your, eternal good. Tonight is your night beloved. Time to believe.
