“My daughter has just died. But come, lay your hand on her, and she will live.” (Matthew 9: 18).
An official whose daughter has just died said to Jesus: I believe that if You come with me to my house and lay Your hand on my dead daughter, she would be alive again.
Whence come the faith of this man? Why does one person have faith and another no faith? Can faith be developed?
The world today is witnessing an unprecedented crisis of faith. It reminds us of the time of Hosea in the 8th century BC when the Kingdom of Israel had become very prosperous and experienced mass idolatry: idols of money, business, pleasure and all types of distractions. Sounds familiar? Large portions of the world today live in unbridled materialism. Materialism has always opposed faith in the individual and society.
The official in the Gospel of today believed in Jesus. He believed that Jesus is the Author and Finisher of our Faith. (Hebrews 12: 2). The official believed that the words and person of Jesus produce miracles.
How can we develop such strong faith? Faith is a pure gift of God which God is more willing to give than we to receive. Ask for faith with boldness. Study passages like the message of today in the Gospels and learn all that you can about faith.
How about the materialism that infects all of us? This is a prayer I would like to make every day:
“Two things I ask of you, Lord; do not refuse me before I die:
Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God." (Proverbs 30: 7 - 9).
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