Is Jesus Amazed at You?

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More than a story…

A few weeks ago, I was reading the book “But No Elephants” to my grand children. In the story, Grandma Tilde adopts every animal into her little home, except the elephant. Then we get to the page that shows the elephant standing in the snow outside her house, crying. When Grandma finally says the elephant can come in, my 4-year-old grandson pipes up, “Is her house really strong enough to hold him?” He is, indeed, a logical kid, and (spoiler alert) the elephant does crash through Grandma Tilde’s floor.

A week or so later, this same 4-year-old learned the truth about how his one-year-old sister actually came out of Mommy’s tummy (He had already asked “how” back when his parents had first brought her home a year prior.). His response? “That’s impossible!” His logic would not allow him to believe something so wonderful and mysterious.

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It happened among family and friends.

On the Sabbath, [Jesus] gave a lecture in the meeting place [in His hometown]. He stole the show, impressing everyone. “We had no idea he was this good!” they said. “How did he get so wise all of a sudden, get such ability?” But in the next breath they were cutting him down: “He’s just a carpenter—Mary’s boy. We’ve known him since he was a kid. We know his brothers, James, Justus, Jude, and Simon, and his sisters. Who does he think he is?” They tripped over what little they knew about him and fell, sprawling. And they never got any further.

Mark 6:2-3 The Message Version, emphasis added

Has your logic ever encountered the supernatural realm and caused you to disbelieve? Which parts of the Bible do you gloss over until you get back to the sections your mind has already made room for? Ouch. I’m probably more guilty than I know.

Seriously, this passage sobered me, after God used a 4-year-old to spotlight it.

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Is Our Logic Getting in God’s Way?

There’s one thing I never want to hear Jesus say about me: “He was amazed at the depth of their unbelief!…” Mark 6:6

Amazed: to marvel, to be astonished out of ones senses (Strongs Concordance). Unbelief is the only place “Jesus was unable to do any great miracles!”. He was amazed at the depth of their unbelief.

Am I so familiar with the Jesus I think I know, that I keep Him in the box of my personal knowledge? I want to dispose of all boxes and let Jesus have free reign of my temple.  Lord, take free reign of this temple! I don’t want You to be astonished at my unbelief but adoring of my faith.

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Open the eyes of my heart …

I don’t want my Lord to think, “I created the entire galaxy for her to live in and enjoy, I parted the Red Sea, and I rose from the dead, and she doesn’t believe I can manage these small things in her life?”

I don’t want my Lord to think, “I came and spoke to Moses face to face and I personally visited the two men on the road to Emmaus post-resurrection, and she doesn’t believe I can actually talk to her?”

I don’t want my mind-set to live in the lower realm. I want my heart and mind to operate from the heavenly realm where all things are possible and where the Father’s great storehouses are that hold everything I could ever need now and in the future.

Holy Spirit, show me how to live and think according to the 3rd Heaven realm. I give You permission to make any necessary changes in my heart and soul. I believe! Increase my ‘heavenly mind-set’ until my faith in worldly things stops impeding what God want’s to do through me. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, in Jesus’s name.

Sowing Seeds of Bravery to Rise Above