JUMP !

MARK 6:47-56

JUMP !

“…they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’ “ Mark 6: 50 (New Revised Standard version)

Recently my wife, Diane, and I went to a Young Life event and heard a terrific speaker.  Young Life is an organization that teaches high school kids about Jesus through fun and fellowship.  The speaker   that night told us a story about the difference between belief and faith.

 He related a time when he was a younger man with a three-yearold daughter. He was putting a new roof on his house and went inside to get a glass of water (leaving his daughter alone “for just a second”).   Returning, he discovered she had climbed the ladder and was now standing on the roof.  He immediately started up the ladder, only to discover that with each step up, she took three steps away.  As he stepped down, she moved back to the safety of the ladder. He'd go up, she’d move over; as he came down, she would move back. It was a game for her.  Intuitively, he knew he had to do something drastic, so he got off the ladder, stood on his lawn, raised his hands and said, “Jump, honey”. 

Now, at this point, she had “belief”.  She believed her Daddy would catch her.  But it wasn't until her feet left the roof, and she actually jumped, that she had “faith”.

The disciples, in Mark 6: 47-56 believe in Jesus, but they don't yet have faith in all that he can and will do.

Dear Lord, teach me how to jump. Amen

~ Jimmy Butler