The Tribune

By NICHOLAS MORLEY

nicholasrmorley@gmail.com

"While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue's house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further? As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe. And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James. And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly. And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying. And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment. And he charged them straightly that no man should know it; and commanded that something should be given her to eat."

(Mark 5:35-43)

It is often said that birds of a feather flock together. This is a very true statement simply because of the power of influence.

It does not matter how strong our beliefs are, if the majority of we call close friends are contrary to what we believe, then it won't be long until we ourselves go contrary.

It does not matter if you are not practising the contrary things like your friends do, unknowingly you and your friends in some form or fashion share some common ground.

The Bible agrees with this point and it admonishes us to not be bound together with unbelievers (2 Corinthians 6:14).

This may sound as if we're not supposed to keep company with opposite-thinking people, but it is really saying that we must not be in the constant company of those who think differently.

The reason for this is that our faith would leak away slowly but surely, and conformity will be the end result.

When Jesus arrived at the home in Mark 5:35-43, the air was stink with the stench of lack of faith. Even after Jesus had spoken to the people, their weeping quickly turn into laughter, showing further that there was zero faith in that home among the multitude.

This is not surprising, because a soul that lives without hearing God's Word and studying it daily will eventually come to a state of unbelief to God's Word.

This was the case with the multitude...all except two. What was really amazing was the damsel's mother. Although the beliefs of her close friends and family were opposite from hers, and they filled the atmosphere with negativity, she kept her faith.

Likewise, we must keep the faith. Although negativity and doubt is everywhere; although your friends, co-workers on the job, children, spouse and family seem to pollute your space with things contrary to God's Word, I admonish you to keep the faith!

Even the damsel's father had faith. He also had a chance to pull away from the influencing crowd to catch himself as he went find Jesus.

The mother perhaps prayed in her heart while Satan, working through the multitude, tried to weaken her faith.

This is not usual, that someone with such influential friends is not influenced by them. This could only mean that she choose to seek real comfort in Jesus and through his Word.

As Jesus walked into the room, the mother's heart leapt for joy and her faith was made stronger. According to the multitude, Jesus' words did not make any sense to her situation.

Yet it was still better to say a small word of encouragement than to sit in doubt as the multitude did. Jesus' words that day wrought two miracles in the family - both the father's and the mother's restoration.

Sometimes Christ may not visit us in a manner we would like Him to, but if we can just daily get His word into our hearts, then miracles can be wrought in like fashion as well. God's Word restores the broken and it strengthens faith, because faith comes by hearing God's Word. (Romans 10:17)

Jesus then saw it fitting to do away with the doubtful multitude. When we allow Jesus into our lives, He dispels doubt and fear.

Now, Jesus is ready to perform even greater miracles. That place which was once home to doubt and fear is now filled with joy and anticipation. Now that Christ had restored the home, both parents and the daughter, they can continue to move forward from grace to grace and faith to faith.

Although we are bombarded on every side with doubt and negativity, although even our closest friends and family do not understand and may not want to understand why you choose to trust God, and although the world, the news, music and movies are all is indeed taking our focus off of God, we have to keep the faith.

Our lives, our salvation and our ministry is depending on our ability to keep the faith, to trust Him and to believe His words even when all else is saying otherwise. Remember that we are told that we should not conform to this world, but rather be transformed by the renewing of our minds. (Romans 12:2)