According To Your Faith

 And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou son of David, have mercy on us. And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.  And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it. - Matthew 9:27-30

Have you ever put yourself in the place of a particular Bible character?  If so, did the story remain pretty much the same?  Probably not, huh?  For example, in the story above, if I had been one of those blind men, the story would have probably gone something like this:

"And when Jesus was come into the house, Dana came to him: and Jesus saith unto her, Believe ye that I am able to do this? She said unto him, 'Yes, Lord.  Well, that is, I want to believe, but I'm not sure I really do.  I mean, after all you are God, the Creator, the Almighty.  There really isn't anything you can't do, but this is a big deal here, and I'm just not really sure that I completely believe that you can heal me.  I want you to, and I think you can, but I'm not sure that you will.  Does that answer your question?'  Then touched he her eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. And her eyes were not opened because she was healed according to her faith, which was sadly lacking. So she stumbled away in darkness and sadness."

Wow!  Not exactly an encouraging tale, is it?  Yet it is how too many of us live our lives.  Believing, yet not believing.  Wanting to live by faith, but instead living in constant fear and doubt.  Knowing God, yet never really allowing the truth of His divine nature to sink in.  It makes me wonder how many wonderful things I've missed out on in life because I was dealt with according to my faith, which is far from what it should be.  How about you?

I'm not one for making new year's resolutions (probably because I have a hard time keeping them), but if I were going to make one this year, it would be this:  I am resolved to not miss out on any more blessings because of my lack of faith.   Enough is enough!  My fear and doubt are getting me nowhere, except possibly to an early grave.  It's time to stop fretting and start trusting.  It's time to take God at His Word and to leave every facet of my life in His hands.  It's time to get to know God better than I've ever known Him before.  It's time for me to be able to answer, "Yes, Lord, I believe" and truly mean it.

Again, I'm not overly fond of resolutions, but I can think of no better way to start off the new year than with the goal of increasing my faith.  What about you?  What are your goals for the new year?