“Jesus said unto her, ‘I Am the Resurrection and the Life; he that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.  And whosoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.  Do you believe this’?”

John 11:25-26

Incomplete faith is better than no faith, but He wants us to move up to Resurrection faith.

None of us have “arrived” when it comes to the Christ-Life (Phil. 3:11-13a).  But, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be in pursuit of it (Phil. 3:13b-14), which comes with “denying ourselves, taking up our cross daily and following Him” (Lk. 9:23; Gal. 2:20).

Even then, we still end up being like Martha in today’s Manna.

Limited in our understanding of His Power (v.21).  Living the “bios-life,” where we still look at things from a natural perspective rather than an eternal one (v.39; I Cor. 2:14).

But, thankfully, the Lord is patient with us, even though we still cause Him to “groan and weep” (vv.33, 35, 38) over our dufus-ways and feeble faith.  Truly, it’s “by His Mercies that we’re not consumed” (Lam. 3:21-23).  Hallelujah!!

There’s no doubt Martha’s limited faith caused her to tell Jesus “if You’d been here my brother would not have died” (v.21).  How soon she’d forgotten His healing of the centurion’s servant by simply pronouncing it so (Mt. 8:5-13).  If He could do it for that Gentile, Roman soldier, could He not have done the same for her if she’d demonstrated the same type of faith?

Assuredly so.

But, we’re all different.  And, our level of faith is also different.

That’s why Jesus (thankfully) meets us where we are and desires to bring us into a “pleasing/saving faith” (Heb. 11:6) that’s the basis for moving from Jn. 11:25 (hope in the Afterlife) to v.26 (hope in the Abiding Life).

Jesus was wanting to expand Martha’s theological box by moving her from a belief in the “general resurrection of the dead in the future” (v.24) to a present-tense “I Am the here-and-now Resurrection and Life.”

So, He asked her, “Do you believe this?”

And, she immediately said, “Yes, Lord” (v.27a).

Yet, then she qualified her answer by giving her Messianic understanding and expectation:  “I believe You are the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world” (v.27b).

No wonder she still tried to give Jesus a biology lesson at Lazarus’ tomb (v.39).

She was still living in the “Bios-Life.”

His words of Who He is still hadn’t quite sank in.  In fact, they wouldn’t until after He arose from the dead and appeared to her.  Only then would she get it.  And, only then would she become one of those so emblazoned by the Holy Spirit after the Day of Pentecost.  That same Jesus is the One living in your heart, Pilgrim.  What’s He wanting to do in/through you today?

By Tom Smith Morning Manna Dated January 19, 2010

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