Hope Chest

There is a point at which you have to just trust in God.

Then he came again to Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said to him, 'Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.' The official said to him, 'Sir, come down before my little boy dies.' Jesus said to him, 'Go; your son will live.' The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. - John 4:46-50

We are told that the moment in this story when the boy is healed is when Jesus tells the man his son will live.

But what if the healing happens when the man believes?  Would that change how we understand this story?

The act of believing is so critical to our own healing that I wonder what would have happened if the man insisted on knowing for certain before leaving Jesus.

Would he have come to Jesus at all if he doubted him?

Our faith brings with it an abundance of hope, and without hope, we have no will to live, no desire to continue against all odds.  The man's boy was dying.  Rather than spend the last few minutes with him, he went in search of healing.

That took faith.  He had to believe there was a chance, and he put all his faith in Jesus to make that chance real.

So, the man didn't come devoid of belief, but brought it with him.  He was ready to lay it down at the foot of Jesus and trust that his request would be fulfilled.

That is how I want to approach God, knowing what I ask for is not only possible, but it is already fulfilled.

If we want to bring about change in the world, hoping to heal the sick and wounded, help the poor and lonely, we need an infusion of faith.

It is what inspires us to commit to our own future, to seek for ourselves what we need to survive.  It is our hope chest.

Without hope, we have no will to live.

With it, we can achieve anything we set out to do, even save a life.

More to come...