Faith, Humility,
and Perseverance
To what lengths would you go to receive the healing power of Jesus?
Would you persevere to the point of success?
Consider the example of the Gentile woman “whose young daughter had an
unclean spirit” (Mark 7:24-30). The woman did not merely ask Jesus to
heal her daughter, but “kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her...”
Jesus said, however, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not
good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” He
was saying (in the fashion of a parable) that His ministry involved
being sent “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” and not to the
Gentiles (Matt. 15:24). But the woman persevered. “Yes, Lord,” she said,
“yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s
crumbs.” What persistence! What humility! What faith! She was willing to
consider herself as one of the “little dogs,” for she knew that her
daughter could be healed by the Lord if only she could get a “little
crumb.” Jesus said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to
you as you desire.” (Matt. 15:28). Her daughter was healed “that very
hour.”
Many are not willing to go to the same lengths that this woman went in
order for themselves to be healed by the Lord, to be spiritually healed
of their sins. They come to the Lord, but don’t persevere. They allow
Jesus’ words to offend them. If the Lord had referred to them as a
“little dog,“ they would have gone away “in a huff.“ Perhaps they are
called upon to give up a relationship. Perhaps Jesus says (through His
word) for them to give up some immorality. It could be that a sermon or
a religious article based on truth has “ruffled their feathers.“ Jesus’
way is “narrow” and they find this offensive, and so they remain on the
broad way that leads to hell (Matt. 7:13,14).
Listen: until we rid ourselves of our sinful pride and humble ourselves
before Jesus, as this Gentile woman, we will not persevere to salvation.
Our Lord said that “whoever humbles himself” as a little child “is
greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:4). It all begins with
faith in Jesus -- faith leading to humility, resulting in perseverance.
--Mike Noble
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