Mark 6:5-6 (NIV) He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.

I have been challenged lately about my level of faith. In reading the Gospel of Mark, you come across the two verses above that are tragic. They’re tragic in the sense that the people of Jesus’ hometown did not experience the glory that a lot of other people in Israel experienced. They didn’t see all the signs and wonders that Jesus did elsewhere and it was all because they could not get themselves to believe that this man whom they had seen grow up among them could possibly be the Messiah. It does say, in this same chapter, that the people were amazed at His teachings, but they refused to believe that He was anything other than a carpenter, even though they heard about the miracles that He had performed in the other towns. Jesus was amazed at their utter lack of faith. That is not a good way to amaze Him.

When we read this account of the people of Jesus’ hometown, we shake our heads at them but if we’re honest, don’t many of us exhibit this same lack of faith many times? The only time that we can see how much faith we have is when things go wrong. When things are okay, everyone is a champion of faith. But as soon as something bad happens or things go south, many Christians run for the hills instead of standing their ground, believing that Jesus can and will protect us, heal us, deliver us and provide for us. We panic at the drop of a hat. That speaks to a lack of faith. As followers of Christ, our faith must match the words that we speak about the greatness of our God. If God is so great (and He is!), then what are we panicking about?

We need the boldness of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who even though they were facing a fiery furnace, decided that they were going to trust in their God no matter what happened. Initially, their words were very bold. They said the following words to the king: “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (Daniel 3:17-18). Those words were spoken while they were at a distance from the furnace. But what about when they started their journey and were then very close to it, being able to feel the searing heat that was emanating from it? No one would have blamed them from trying to take back their words. Some probably thought they would hear them say, “Hey there oh king, we’ve changed our minds. We didn't think you were really serious about throwing us into the furnace. On second thought, we will bow down to that statue.” But that’s not what happened because those Hebrew boys knew their God and believed that He could and would deliver them. That is the kind of faith that would have amazed Jesus when He was here on earth. We must know Him that well also so that we will stand our ground when we need to stand and show the world around us that we do have the faith to believe that Jesus is able to do all that He said He will do and that we totally trust Him with our lives no matter what is going on with us or around us. Let’s put our faith in Jesus for every situation in our lives and amaze Him the right way!

Pastor Joey Vazquez