Can vs. Will

"And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, 'Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.' And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, 'I will; be clean.' And immediately his leprosy was cleansed." Mark 8:2-3

You know those people in your world that give you an answer to a question like: Can you pass the water? And their response is generally, "Yes." and then they sit there and don't pass the water. Basically trying to correct your grammar by making you realize that they CAN pass the water but what you really should be asking is WILL you pass the water. I don't like those people. Just pass me the darn water!!!

But in the matter of Jesus and our faith, it is a legitimate question to ask. Do we believe He CAN? It's important to go to Jesus with real faith. Of course He CAN! He can do anything. The real statement that we need to make is the one this leper made. "You can make me clean, and if you will that would be great!" Jesus said, "I will." There is faith all over this leper's statement. He knew Jesus could do it, it was just a matter of whether it was in His will or not. It not only showed that this man had faith but that he knew that Jesus was in charge. He didn't demand anything, knowing that there was a possibility that Jesus could will not to, for whatever reason He chose.

I believe this is the way we have to come, humble, broken, and faithful. In this we show our true faith and understanding that God has His ways and that His ways aren't always our ways. God wants us to ask as someone who knows that He CAN do it, and wants us to leave things up to Him.

Faith in the Tone

"And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, 'Save us, Lord; we are perishing.' And he said to them, 'Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?' Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm."

I love this story. I love this story so much because of the ramifications it has in our lives. You see the disciples were freaking out. They saw the storm, waves, water in the boat, etc. and they basically were thinking they were toast. Then they went to Jesus who was asleep, that's right, asleep.

Here's what they didn't say, "Jesus (nudging him gently to wake up), we wanted you to know that we are looking forward to seeing you calm this storm and save us all. We know you are the God of the universe and the Messiah and we know this is nothing for you."

You see it's all in the tone. Instead they said, "Save us, Lord; we are perishing." There was something in them that thought Jesus could save them, just not enough to have no fear. Jesus heard it in their tone.

So I've decided I want to have faith in my tone. I want to have no fear, not even in the tone of my voice, because I have Jesus, and worse case scenario I perish and I'm with Him forever. What do I have to fear. The disciples learned this lesson and many of them died because of their faith in Jesus, a far cry from their days in the boat.