Functional Faith

We had a guest preacher yesterday at church - Rev. Michael W. Palmer, Sr. of New Friendship Baptist Church in Baltimore, MD.

The title of his sermon was 'Functional Faith' and he was coming from the text of Mark 10:46-52. He spoke a lot about what faith actually means and how it is very much an action word, because as we know, faith without works is dead.

The point that he made that summed it all up and really stuck out to me was regarding the blind man in John 9. The man had been blind all his life at the time at which he met Jesus. Jesus spat on the ground, made clay and anointed the blind man's eyes with this clay. Jesus then told the man to go wash in the pool of Siloam. The man went, washed and was able to see. Pretty straight forward situation, right?

What Rev. Palmer brought to our attention was this - this man not only had to have faith to receive his sight, but he also had to put in some type of action to make manifest of what Jesus had blessed him with. According to Rev. Palmer, when the Bible says that Jesus 'anointed' the man's eyes with clay, that implies that upon the clay being placed over his eyes, his sight was restored immediately. However, because his eyes were covered with the clay, he still could not physically see. Jesus had blessed him with sight, but he could not use it until he went and washed the clay off. Had he not both faith AND action, he would have continued through his life with the gift of sight, but the obstruction of the clay preventing him from using it.

The translation for our lives today is clear. God blesses us in so many ways so many times. And while we believe He does, we do not always ACT in conjunction with His blessings. Faith without works is dead. He could bless us all day long, but if we don't make the simple step to wash the clay off of our eyes, we will still be blind to all of the great things He has set out for us. I mean, there's no reason to let good blessings go to waste, right?!? So, my prayer is that we be moved to action to make manifest of the blessings that He has already sent our ways. Let the washing off of the clay begin!