Articles
According to Your Faith
Jesus performed miracles of such magnitude and in such numbers that word about Him inevitably spread far and wide. For whatever reason, that isn’t always what Jesus wanted. For example, after resurrecting Jairus’ daughter, Jesus “instructed them to tell no one what had happened” (Lk. 8:56). In Matthew’s account, though, we’re told “this news spread throughout all that land” (Mt. 9:26). I suppose some secrets are just too hard to keep.
It isn’t hard to imagine what a person suffering from a disability would do if they heard such things about Jesus and then found out that He was nearby. They’d do exactly what two blind men did, they’d follow Jesus and cry out for mercy (Mt. 9:27). The Bible doesn’t tell us how long they followed Jesus or for how far, but Jesus doesn’t address them until He went inside a house.
“Do you believe that I am able to do this?” Jesus asked them.
“Yes, Lord,” they replied.
It’s what Jesus said next that really catches my attention. “It shall be done to you according to your faith.”
If faith is believing in what you can’t see, then blind men can’t help but live by faith. They hadn’t seen any miracles. They couldn’t have. The only evidence of miracles they had was what they heard. For these two blind men, that was enough. In accordance to their faith (and the power of Jesus), their eyes were opened. Jesus told them not to tell anyone, “but they went out and spread the news about Him throughout all the land” (Mt. 9:31). I guess being healed of blindness is another secret too big to keep.
You might think that the point of this article is that we should tell others what Jesus has done for us—about being so amazed at our redemption that nothing could stop us from telling others about Him. That’s certainly a point worth considering. But I want to take a moment and dwell on these words of Jesus, “It shall be done to you according to your faith” (Mt. 9:29).
We pray for health. We pray for food and for jobs. We pray for safe travels. We pray for more important things than those. We pray for spiritual blessings like wisdom and understanding. Above all, we beg for forgiveness of sins. What if, after each prayer, we heard these words of Jesus, “It shall be done to you according to your faith.” Would we rise from our knees with great joy at the blessings we were about to be showered with? If not, perhaps it is time to rethink the amount of faith we have in God.
After all, it isn’t just the blind men whose faith impacted what they received. Remember what the Bible teaches us about prayer. “But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord” (Jam. 1:6-7).
Asking in faith can mean different things depending on what we are praying for. If we are praying for something that has been promised (such as wisdom or for the forgiveness of sins – Jam. 1:5; I John 1:9) then praying with faith means that we are confident we will receive what has been promised—that God won’t say no. If, on the other hand, we’re asking for something that hasn’t been promised (like a new job or being cured of blindness), then praying with faith means that we absolutely believe in God’s ability—that God may say no but we haven’t asked more than He is able to accomplish.
Hopefully, we have enough faith in God to truly be blessed in all things. However, if you need more faith, I highly recommend you do the only thing the two blind men could do to build their faith… spend more time listening to all the things that Jesus has done.
