FIRST WORDS
Last week we looked at two occasions when the Lord appeared to His disciples and the original 11 did not believe it.
“Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; He rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen Him after He had risen” (Mark 16:14).
Has it ever occurred to you that the first time Jesus appeared to His own disciples, it was with words of rebuke? Certainly Jesus must have understood the pressure the disciples were under with all the persecution, grief, and confusion. Surely Jesus loved them and had a plan for each of their lives. But, Jesus didn’t come into this world to pamper us and tell us how wonderful we are. No, He came into this world, and spent three years training these disciples how, to enter into spiritual warfare and see the blind set free.
I firmly believe that we Christians are seeing such spiritual defeat in our lives and in our churches because we are not entering into the battle. We are sitting in our ease waiting for Jesus to fight the battle for us. However, He only fights for us in response to risks we ourselves take in service to Him.
If Jesus spoke words of comfort to you today, what would it sound like? Would He be saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant“, or would He be rebuking us for such little faith in a crucial time?
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