Matthew 17:14-21

¹⁴ And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, falling on his knees before him,

¹⁵ said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, because he is an epileptic and he suffers severely. Because he often falls into the fire, and often into the water.

¹⁶ And I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”

¹⁷ And Jesus answered, “O faithless and corrupt generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to put up with you? Bring him here to me.”

¹⁸ And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured from that hour.

¹⁹ Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and asked, “Why could we not expel it?”

²⁰ He said to them, “Because of your little faith. Because honestly, I am telling you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

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failing faithfully

I am so glad that this story is in the Bible. It is comforting to me that the best trained men, who were the closest to the Lord, had problems with their ministry.

1. I am grateful that these men’s walk with the Lord was not so consistent. They struggled to be who they knew they were. They questioned why it was not always working as they expected. I get that. That’s where I am a lot.

2. I am grateful that these were the same men who eventually turned the world upside-down with the gospel. They stuck it out, and stayed with Jesus through the struggles of their own incompetence, and the Holy Spirit used them. That is comforting because I only see small glimpses of what I could be.

3. I am grateful when people come to me and share their own struggles. I can share with them the wonderful truth that none of us ever get it 100%. Because of this, we can stay with Jesus, even during the “low-bat” times.

LORD, we surrender to you, and ask you to use us in ministry. Build our faith, but allow us the fail faithfully when our efforts are not enough. Yours always are.

[1] Verse 21 is not found in the best manuscripts, and is omitted from most of the modern versions.