scripture: matthew 11:1-11:10

Jesus brings up hope and love and a purpose for living.

Jesus brings up hope and love and a purpose for living.

As children of God we live by a different standard than the world. The world lives by sight and proof. We live by faith. All of us struggle with living by faith at some point. Faith causes many to stumble because the unknown and the unseen intimidate us. It does not matter how long one has been living for God, we are all susceptible to a failing of faith. It is easy to talk about faith; it is more difficult to demonstrate it. Out scripture text is a glimpse of John the Baptist in a moment of questioning his faith. John was a man who had been unafraid of anything in his ministry. He now finds himself in a prison cell alone and forgotten. He begins to question his ministry, his mission and his life. John sends his disciples to ask Jesus: Are you the one? Bro. Hughes notices some things about this story of John’s faith storm. First, faith storms can happen when the pace of life changes. John had been on the top of the world. He was famous and note worth. He was a major player and was much sought after by the religious leaders of the time. He was now out of favor, and relegated to a prison cell with nothing to do. The second thing was that John was now in a restricted environment. John was used to being free and living in the wilderness, and now he found himself restricted and confined. Finally John was alone in his cell, and was living in silence. No contact with God. There are no recorded visits from Jesus during this time of incarceration. Now alone in his cell, he had to live the message that he had preached. In the silence of his situation, he had to rely on his own message. It is not easy to live our own message. Bro. Hughes asks, “So what do you do when you don’t know what to do?” The answer is that we do just what John did. John reached out to Jesus. He is the one that has the answer. He is the one that we need to rely upon. John not only reached out to Him, he received a word from Him. Jesus provided the confirmation that John needed.