Mark 16:15-18, CEB - He said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the good news to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever doesn’t believe will be condemned. These signs will be associated with those who believe: they will throw out demons in my name. They will speak in new languages. They will pick up snakes with their hands. If they drink anything poisonous, it will not hurt them. They will place their hands on the sick, and they will get well.”
There are a handful of things that
I wish Jesus did not say and a couple of them are in these few verses above.
However, Jesus did say them and so I have to take them seriously. I’d like to ignore them, but to do so, I
would have to be the kind of person that only hears what he wants to hear. That leads to the first thing above that I
wish Jesus did not say; “. . . whoever doesn’t believe will be condemned.”
We face
condemnation when we don’t believe. I
wish Jesus didn’t say that because there have been times when I didn’t
believe. Some of those times, I was
mad. I encountered realities that I did
not like and I held them against God. I
turned away. I encountered suffering
that seemed impossible to look at, much less bear, and I held it against
God. Of course, there were other times when
what I came to discover about God made me uncomfortable, so I resisted the
invitation to believe. I remember those
times of my life as the worst seasons of my life. So I can tell you from these experiences that
despite wishing Jesus had not said it, we are indeed condemned by a refusal to
believe.
We are
created by God wired for belief in God.
We thrive when we live in belief and, like a car without a battery, we become
stuck and unable to function in the way we were created. To be accurate, we condemn
ourselves when we don’t choose to believe.
It is not God being offended and turning away from us, but vice
versa.
Now for
the other thing I wish Jesus didn’t say:
“They will pick up snakes with their hands.
If they drink anything poisonous, it will not hurt them”
This
has led to people dying from snake bites and/or drinking poison. This has led to people turning away from the
church when they see Christians doing stuff like that. It seems so obvious that Jesus did not mean
for His followers to tempt God by brazenly handling snakes and drinking poison,
but that hasn’t stopped people from taking these words literally. Christianity cults have emerged sporadically since
the time this passage was published that build their whole existence upon doing
dangerous things like picking up snakes to prove they are among the people who
believe. I shouldn’t have to say this, but this practice was not what Jesus had
in mind when He said the above words.
I have
witnessed many miracles when I or others should have died or at least been
seriously injured, but they were somehow saved.
I believe that God does protect believers in ways that I cannot describe
or explain. But that does not mean that
we should carelessly put ourselves in danger so as to “show off” God’s
protection and healing.
The
point Jesus was making was that, since we are wired for faith, we can
accomplish amazing, sometimes even supernatural things when we live with implicit
belief that God is with us. When we cut
the faith connection, we live in the condemnation of a life with God’s power at
work in us. Miracles are often the
blessing of those who choose to believe, but you don’t have to demonstrate miracles
to prove that you believe. Christianity
is not magic show. It is simply
faith-filled living.
Questions: How does
it make you feel when you see others “showing off” their faith? Have you eve found yourself doing that?
Prayer: Lord Jesus,
forgive my moments or even seasons of disbelief. Help me to trust you for protection and
healing without me ever becoming boastful about it. Keep me humble Lord. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray
for other Christians whose beliefs seem very different from yours today.
Song: House of
Miracles – Brandon Lake
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