Lent 27.1: BELIEVE IT OR NOT

John 4:43-54

The story that we read about in the passage never ceases to amaze me. We read about the return of Jesus to Cana in Galilee after staying two days in Samaria. A royal official had heard that Jesus was in town and so came looking for Jesus to beg him to heal his son who was near death. (Now remember, just sometime back the Galileans had witnessed the first miracle of Jesus at a wedding in Cana, where Jesus had turned water into the choicest of wines after the wine being served for guests had run out.) And so in the end we read that the official’s son does get healed. What is really amazing about this story is found in verse 50b. (The man took Jesus at his word and departed.)

Growing up as a kid, I realized that I had always believed what my mom said. I had no reason to doubt her. Weren’t you the same when you were a kid? Children are trusting and tend to take what most adults say as the gospel truth. They take them at their word. However as we reach adolescence, we are no longer innocent and ‘gullible’. We use logic and exercise our own belief systems to discern if something is the truth. Not that it’s entirely bad but unfortunately, this form of discerning is also applied when we relate to God. We can’t seem to take God at His word. If He says He loves us, we have our doubts. We have a problem in accepting what God is saying. No wonder Jesus says in Matthew 18:3, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Action:
1. What are some areas in your life where you are unable to take God at His word?
2. Ask God to show you a situation where you can take Him at His Word and take steps of faith.

(Meditation By Rhema Rao)