Servanthood and greatness

In my class today I had my students make Christmas trees out of green construction paper.  They covered them with stickers, adorned them with delicate drawings, and smothered them with glitter.  They were really quite something to behold.

But the center was left blank.  That was where they were supposed to write something.  "Christmas is often looked at as a time when we get lots of things," I told them.  "But Christmas is really about giving, not getting.  It's a time to remember what God gave to us, and to give things to other people as a way of saying thank you."  (Ah, the joys of working in a school - and a country - where opportunities to talk about God are not smothered by regulations and political correctness!)

So I told my students to write in the middle something that they wanted to do for someone else over winter break this year.  Almost all of them said that they wanted to volunteer in orphanages.  They could have just as easily said that they would take their friend out to dinner, or help their mother clean, or let their sister have the bigger serving of rice cake.  But they didn't.  They looked outside of themselves.  They wanted to do something real, something for the people for whom nobody else does anything. 

It was touching, seeing how they wanted to make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate than them.  It was also a bit humbling, because I was one of the few people who did not write that I wanted to work with orphaned children on my Christmas tree.  But yet, isn't that really why we're here?  To serve others?  That, for Jesus, is the mark of true greatness.  So how great are you?

Mark 9:33-37

³³ They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” ³⁴ But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.
 ³⁵ Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
 ³⁶ He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, ³⁷ “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”

Just ask

I received a message from an atheist friend of mine last night that said, "I envy you, because you see God and I don't, even though I want to."  I didn't quite know what to say, but I instantly thought of a story in Mark, so this morning I went straight to Mark 9 to check it out.

This is a pretty famous story, in which Jesus casts a demon out of a little boy.  For our purposes, however, the cruz of the story can be found when Jesus is talking to the boy's father about belief.  The father, desperate for his son to be healed, cries out to Jesus, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" (verse 24).

Human faith is never perfect, and belief and unbelief are often mixed together.  But what happens when your heart wants to believe Him, but your mind won't let you?  The great thing about the Lord is that He wants to know your failures as well as your successes.

In his Bible commentary, John Gill writes this about the boy's father:  "As soon as ever he found it was put upon his faith, and that the issue of things would be according to that, he expressed himself with much vehemency, being in great distress; partly with indignation at his unbelief, and partly through fear of missing a cure, by reason of it: repenting of his unbelief, and grieved at the present weakness of his faith; which he very ingenuously confesses, saying, 
Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief;
not forward, but out of the way: he found in himself some small degree of faith in the power of Christ, but it was mixed with much unbelief, through the greatness of the child's disorder; and therefore desires it might be removed from him, and he might be helped against it: he saw it was not in his own power to believe; nor had he strength of himself to oppose his unbelief; but that both faith must be given him, and power against unbelief. The Syriac version renders it, "help", (ytwnmyh twryoxl) , "the defect of my faith": till up that which is lacking in it, it is very deficient, Lord, increase it; and the Arabic and Ethiopic translate thus, "help the weakness of my faith". He found his faith very weak, he desires it might be strengthened, that he might be strong in faith, and give glory to God; and in this way belief is helped, or men helped against it: every believer, more or less, at one time or another, finds himself in this man's case; and also that it is necessary to make use of the same petition; for faith is but imperfect in this life, and often very weak and defective in its exercise."

Wow.  Heavy stuff.  But Gill was spot-on when he said that even believers have found themselves in this man's situation before.  Everyone struggles to believe at one point or another.  Some people struggle longer than others.  But everyone can find the answers they are looking for.  Do you struggle with believing in God, believing in His promises?  The answer can be found at the foot of the cross.  Ask Him to help you in your disbelief.  I promise you, He will.  God is not only able to strengthen your belief, He wants to.  All you have to do is ask Him

Mark 9:14-29

 ¹⁴ When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. ¹⁵ As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.
   ¹⁶ “What are you arguing with them about?” he asked.
 ¹⁷ A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. ¹⁸ Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”
   ¹⁹ “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”
 ²⁰ So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.
 ²¹ Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”
   “From childhood,” he answered. ²² “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”
   ²³ “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”
 ²⁴ Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
 ²⁵ When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”
 ²⁶ The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” ²⁷ But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.
 ²⁸ After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
 ²⁹ He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”