King Antiochus Ephiphanus thought himself to be the reincarnation of Gk god Zeus. The title Ephiphanus means revelation of god. Faithful Jews called him “Ephimanus” means mad man. He persecuted the Jews for not worshiping his idol. “But many in Israel were determined and resolved in their hearts…[and] preferred to die rather than…to profane the holy covenant.” And they kept up their faith. Scripture tells us that unbelievers live in darkness -- in essence they are blind. Jesus meets a blind beggar whose faith shines brightly. The beggar is physically blind but spiritually sighted. He sees Jesus as the Son of David, the messiah and calls out for help. He refuse to be shouted down by the crowd.
Faith is a gift of inestimable value. Sometimes we profess our faith in Jesus with our lips, yet our words and actions express something completely different. When we do not act consistently with what Jesus expects of his followers, perhaps we need to ask ourselves why. Jesus said that not everyone that says "Lord, Lord" will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only those who do the will of the Father. The will of the Father is that we follow his Son, Jesus Christ, not just occasionally when it suits us, but in everything that we do especially when it is difficult for us to do so. This requires that we accept Jesus as our savior and act in accordance with all that is implied when we follow him. It would be good for us to regularly take time to examine ourselves: in what ways are we living our Christian faith? Have we been consistent? What do we need to do?
Let us ask Jesus to bless us continually with the grace to grow in faith, so that we will see all things in his light and will do only the Father's will.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment