An anecdote about an antidote
Jesus said to her, ‘Daughter, you took a risk of faith, and now you’re healed and whole. Live well, live blessed! Be healed of your plague.’ (Mark 5:34 MSG)
When I was writing for my high school newspaper, the teacher used to say, “The difference between this class and othxer classes is that when students in the other classes turn in their homework, usually the only one to see their mistakes is the teacher. In this class, if you make a mistake on your homework, we publish it for everyone to see.”
A couple of days ago we made a mistake with Rick Warren’s Daily Hope devotionals, running the headline, “Unselfish Giving Is the Anecdote to Materialism.” No doubt God could use someone’s funny or interesting little story — an anecdote — as an antidote to materialism, but the headline should have read, “Unselfish Giving Is the Antidote to Materialism.”
We are imperfect people serving a perfect God.
As I’ve mentioned before, one of the things Rick Warren says is, “I want everyone on my staff to make at least one big mistake a week. If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not trying anything new.” His point is that he doesn’t want us to be afraid to try something innovative and creative, even if it means risking failure.
There was a woman who “suffered a condition of hemorrhaging for twelve years,” and she’d gone to all types of doctors; that not only left her poor, but it also left her in worse health than before. One day she saw Jesus walking through a crowd, and she thought, “If I could just touch his robe, I know I will be healed.”
“The moment she did it, the flow of blood dried up. She could feel the change and knew her plague was over and done with” (Mark 5:28-29 MSG).
Jesus turned around and said, “Daughter, you took a risk of faith, and now you’re healed and whole. Live well, live blessed! Be healed of your plague” (Mark 5:34 MSG).
There may be a “plague” in your life that you’ve been bearing, not believing things could ever change and not believing you could ever be healed. Or maybe there’s a risk Jesus is telling you to take, but you’re a little frightened about reaching out for his robe.
Take the risk, and watch what God does. In fact, taking the risk is one of the ways that he helps you deepen your faith — because each little step gives you the confidence to take bigger steps.
It won’t be long before we’ve slipped right past Christmas and have moved on to the New Year. What area of your life needs to be transformed in 2013? Jesus said, “Everything is possible for him who believes” (Mark 9:23 NIV).
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This devotional © Copyright 2012 Jon Walker. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
