Towards Spiritual Mastery - Soap Boxes and Solutions
In my last post I ended with a soap box statement…
“Maybe disciples then and now, could develop a greater measure of spiritual mastery to be productive during moments that matter.”
That’s where I ended. A soapbox without a solution. Something insightful that goes nowhere. Sound familiar? The solution? Keep reading.
As we progress further through Mark 9 a solution emerges. Jesus instructs his disciples then and now how to move the spiritual needle in their/our lives – to get on the road of spiritual mastery.
21 Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”
“From childhood,” he answered. 22 “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”
23 “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”
“Everything is possible for one who believes,” says Jesus. We could unpack this statement, but there is nothing to unpack. Jesus has delivered a statement of fact. However, an assumption undergirds Jesus’ statement. The Lord leaves it out because either we should know this, or he wants us to dig it out ourselves and not toss it on the littered pile of unattainable ideas as we scan scripture too quickly.
“Everything is possible for one who believes” is a statement Jesus himself believes. Jesus lives in the reference frame of a creator God, who then can alter anything.
Before we can do what Jesus does, we need to believe what Jesus believes. No?
Remember Jesus vents his frustration in this passage. His disciples don’t think like he thinks, believe what he believes, nor function as he functions in the power of the Holy Spirit. He makes his intention clear about where he wants the church to go. He reveals his will, his passion. Can you see it?