Friday, December 12, 2008

When people shrink.

People will make Jesus smaller than He is sometimes. Well meaning people that love you will downsize Him and what He's capable of in your life. They don't mean to, they're not being malicious, it just happens. And it happened in Mark 5.

Jesus was on the way to attend to the daughter of Jairus. She was sick and Jairus had pleaded with Jesus to come see her. On his way, Jesus got stopped by someone in the crowd and was delayed. Here is what happens in verse 35:

While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. "Your daughter is dead," they said. "Why bother the teacher any more?"

Do you see how they shrunk Jesus? In that moment, men that had presumably been watching over Jairus’ daughter while he was out recruiting the help of Jesus, came with a message. It was too late. Your daughter is dead. Why keep bothering this teacher.

They shrunk Jesus. They believed the situation had passed His abilities. They believed that the situation had grown larger than He could handle. It was over. How did Christ respond? Here's verse 36:

Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, "Don't be afraid; just believe."

Then He went to Jairus house and healed his daughter.

He refused to stay small. He refused to be limited by other people's expectations of what He was capable of and everyday, He asks us to do the same thing.

I don’t know what you’re going through right now, but Jesus is big enough for it. It is not too late. It is never passed His power.

So when someone tries to shrink Jesus, remember to just believe.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

God plants things like this in our lives for a reason. I needed someone to tell me this today and God gave me you.

Thanks.

Bekah Jo said...

How many times does God have to remind us to not rely on sight? The truth of this post is something I have been holding to lately and is very valuable to our lives. Thanks for writing it.

Anonymous said...

Thank you.

Anonymous said...

thanks, jon
i give up on progress or change. i settle for "this is as good as it's gonna get." i need to trust & share the desires of my heart, and quit limiting Him.

Christina said...

This is a fantastic way of interpreting this story!! Thanks for calling me out on my way of thinking. Good stuff!

Jamie said...

thank you for the reminder!

Anonymous said...

I cannot thank you enough for this post. My situation looks so very dark and monstrous - I was told just today not to allow the situation to look bigger than God is to me. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Jon-The Bible doesn't tell us how long Jairus' daughter had been sick. You are getting the 12 years from the woman in the crowd who in faith touched Jesus' robe for healing.

Prodigal Jon said...

Platypusphil
Great catch -
Thank you so much for helping me fix that slip up. I really appreciate it
Jon

Bruce IV said...

Amen, brother,
The other thing I've been getting lately is to remember not to shrink God myself - to dare to ask big things of Him - not just forgiveness, but new fire.

Anonymous said...

Nice to have you back, Jon. This is a great reminder that God is bigger than everything that we face. Nothing is impossible with him.

Kim

Anonymous said...

needed this...

LeLe said...

I love this. Thank you.

voigt said...

thanks.

Soulful said...

Jon - I loved your post. God prompted me to write about the same thing on Dec 11 on my blog. Today I came and read your post. I must really be limiting Him. Thanks for the good words.

Alison said...

Needed this and love it. Thank you, yet again. Please don't ever doubt that God is using you to speak to people.

Anita Ann said...

This is good stuff. We can easily forget when in crisis, but that is when we most need HIM.

Omah's Helping Hands said...

This is good Jon. I had never looked at it this way. I love it when people share their thoughts on scripture and bring out points not captured before. Love it! Look forward to hearing more from you.

tjw1970 said...

Another great post...very helpful and a reminder that I need to take the time to really listen to the Holy Spirit teach me - not just read through the text.

Awesome.

Willow said...

Thank you for your blog and the time you take to inspire so many.
Bless you.

heartafire said...

It's so great too, to think about Jesus' death in this context. It really WAS all over for those poor disciples, since they really didn't know anything yet about Sunday morning,...

Unknown said...

I read this blog when I am going through my trial... I really believe that God leads me to just the right post to encourage me.. Thank you for writing and keeping us all encouraged.. May God bless you and your family =)