The healing power of faith!
Mark 10:52 Jesus told him, “Go. Your faith has made you well.” Immediately he received his sight and began following Jesus on the road.
The thought comes into the mind, “Why must I suffer so much? What did I do to deserve this?” “Jesus healed people who suffered, why doesn’t he heal me?” These thoughts are often on the mind of humans when difficulty arises in their lives. We are constantly looking for reasons why bad things happen to us. Then we wonder why Jesus has not healed us like he did when he was on earth. And almost always, we associate our earthly troubles with something evil…whether we think God is punishing us for some sin or God is treating us unfairly.
This is the devil’s goal. He wants us to question God’s healing power and love. As the devil accuses us of sin, he wants us to think in the same way the disciples did when it came to the blind man. Who sinned which caused him to be blind? Rather than look at physical ailments as a result of sin, Jesus wants his disciples to look at the healing power of faith. This healing power of faith destroys the devil’s goal.
Jesus points out to Bartimaeus and the disciples that God’s healing power would show itself through faith. “Your faith has made you well!” Are there any more powerful words of comfort than this? But what exactly was Bartimaeus healed? Of course, the obvious thing was blindness. But there was something else that infected him which was the root problem that caused blindness in the first place. It was sin…not a particular sin, but the sinful nature he inherited from Adam. This is the root cause of our troubles as well! Only faith can heal us from this original ailment. But how does faith heal us?
Faith connects us to the one who has power over sin. Jesus is the object of our faith and it was his death on the cross and his resurrection that heals us from sin and death. It is Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection that destroys the devil’s goal. And it is Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection that will eventually heal your physical ailment. That’s right! Your physical ailment will be healed when Jesus raises you from the dead with a perfect body.
Dear Lord, the great physician of body and soul. We thank you for your death and resurrection which gives us complete healing. Help us hold onto your compassionate, healing love all the days of our lives. In your name we pray. Amen.