Bold Belief

This phrase appears the Message version of the Bible, "Impressed by their bold belief....." After this phrase was used it is said Jesus does something great - he forgave sin!

After a few days, Jesus returned to Capernaum, and word got around that he was back home. A crowd gathered, jamming the entrance so no one could get in or out. He was teaching the Word. They brought a paraplegic to him, carried by four men. When they weren't able to get in because of the crowd, they removed part of the roof and lowered the paraplegic on his stretcher. Impressed by their bold belief, Jesus said to the paraplegic, "Son, I forgive your sins." Mark 2:1-3

The phrase struck me today - Jesus was impressed with bold belief! Do I have that kind of bold belief? Let me say that I do not think that God is waiting to do something for us when we have bold belief or when we have enough faith. Jesus has already acted to forgive sin. So God does not wait on us to act when our faith is enough, it seems that way to us however. What I think really happens is that forgiveness is already there, but we do not see it because we do not have a bold belief to recognize it. We will rise to the level of our bold belief. It is all available to us, but we do not see it. It is like we are trapped and held back in our growth because we do not allow our thoughts to see what is actually available to us. My brother in law said it best last night. He said it is like having a pet snake. Those snakes have the potential to be huge, but are limited to the size cage that you place them in. They will grow no bigger than the surrounding they are living in. Is our belief bold or is it limited by only what we see? Are we limiting ourselves in life because we believe we are limited by the size of what we can see in our enviroment? What would happen it we each had bold belief? I think God would be impressed, and we would feel and think that God has taken action for us, but really we would have just come to realize the world is available to us to grow in every way to a huge potential!

God's wisdom is something mysterious that goes deep into the interior of his purposes. You don't find it lying around on the surface. It's not the latest message, but more like the oldest—what God determined as the way to bring out his best in us, long before we ever arrived on the scene. The experts of our day haven't a clue about what this eternal plan is. If they had, they wouldn't have killed the Master of the God-designed life on a cross. That's why we have this Scripture text: No one's ever seen or heard anything like this, Never so much as imagined anything quite like it— What God has arranged for those who love him. But you've seen and heard it because God by his Spirit has brought it all out into the open before you.

1 Corinthians 2:9-12 (The Message)

Don't place yourself or God "in a box" and limit the growth of your spirit. Imagine and dare to have a bold belief that will allow you to see what God has for you. Impress God because not many are able or willing to have such a belief to recognize the limitless potential available in our Creator!

Namaste'