What comes first, the belief or the miracle? Is the belief the miracle? Does Jesus see enough faith in the man to grant the miracle? Or does he know that a miracle will lead him to belief? And who needs to believe -- the father, or the son?
So many questions... but the beginning and the end are clear. In the beginning of the story, a boy is sick to the point of death. Then Jesus enters the picture, and the boy is saved, and the entire household believes that Jesus is the Messiah. Does it necessarily matter what order the pieces went into the puzzle, or is it simply enough for the pieces to be added and the picture is made?
I don't know the exact path to a faithful life. It's different for each of us, and what I thought was true in my life ten years ago isn't still true. I've changed. The world has changed.
But what is true for each of us is this -- we were lost and sinful, and Jesus has entered the picture, and now we are redeemed. The steps in between aren't always clear, and sometimes I feel like I'm walking backwards on the path and there's some familiar ground that I thought I'd covered long ago. But what truly matters is the salvation of Jesus Christ that is a free gift, and so I keep walking on the path, because I have read the picture Scripture tells me about, the one that comes at the end, when all the pieces have been put together, and it's beautiful, and it's worth everything. Thanks be to God.
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