That Is Why We Fail

"I don't believe it!" Luke Skywalker
"And that is why you fail." Yoda

It is a classic scene from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. In it Luke Skywalker struggles, and fails, to raise his ship out of the swamp he crashed into while Yoda watches. Yoda then demonstrates the power of the Force by lifting the ship out and setting it on dry land. To which Luke respondes incredulously, "I don't believe it."

Jesus shows his disciples an even greater power. "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father " (John 14:12). Greater things than Jesus! That just blows my mind, here is the Son of God, God himself, promising that I can do things like raise the dead, give sight to the blind, proclaim forgiveness for sins, and on and on. This promise wasn't just to the original 12 apostles, or the early church, God offers this power to any who call upon his name. Yet, how often to we avail ourselves of this power, not for our own uses, but for those who need to receive it? Why don't we throw ourselves into the current of God's power and let ourselves be used for his glory?

The simple answer is like Yoda's response. We fail because we don't believe. We, as Christians, don't believe that God would use someone like "me" (insert your name here), or worse yet we don't believe in a God that is able to do miracles. We may offer prayers for healing or for provision, but in the back of our mind is a little voice saying, "God doesn't do that any more, he can't or won't do..." and it is our unbelief that limits what God does. It is not that God is unwilling or unable, the block lies within our doubts and disbelief. We may even preach that our God is a God who does miracles, but in the deep parts of our heart we don't buy it. And that leaves Christians feeling much like Luke, frustrated at our inabilities and astonished by someone else who has enough faith to do, what others consider, the impossible.

My question is simple: "Do you believe?"