Basic HTML Version
We Must Believe in Him, March 12
Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.
Luke 8:48
.
On the way to the ruler’s house, Jesus had met, in the crowd, a poor woman
who for 12 years had suffered from a disease that made her life a burden. She had
spent all her means upon physicians and remedies, only to be pronounced incurable.
But her hopes revived when she heard of the cures that Christ performed. She felt
assured that if she could only go to Him she would be healed.... She had begun to
despair, when, in making His way through the multitude, He came near where she
was.
The golden opportunity had come. She was in the presence of the Great Physi-
cian! But amid the confusion she could not speak to Him, nor catch more than a
passing glimpse of His figure. Fearful of losing her one chance of relief, she pressed
forward, saying to herself, “If I may but touch his clothes, I shall be whole.” As He
was passing, she reached forward, and succeeded in barely touching the border of
His garment. But in that moment she knew that she was healed. In that one touch
was concentrated the faith of her life, and instantly her pain and feebleness gave
place to the vigor of perfect health....
Suddenly Jesus stopped, and the people halted with Him. He turned, and looking
about asked in a voice distinctly heard above the confusion of the multitude, “Who
touched Me”? ...
The Saviour could distinguish the touch of faith from the casual contact of the
careless throng. Such trust should not be passed without comment. He would
speak to the humble woman words of comfort that would be to her a wellspring of
joy—words that would be a blessing to His followers to the close of time....
Jesus insisted on knowing who had touched Him. Finding concealment vain,
she came forward tremblingly, and cast herself at His feet. With grateful tears she
told the story of her suffering, and how she had found relief. Jesus gently said,
“Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace”....It
was not through the outward contact with Him, but through the faith which took
hold on His divine power, that the cure was wrought....
It is not enough to believe
about
Christ; we must believe
in
Him. The only
faith that will benefit us is that which embraces Him as a personal Saviour; which
appropriates His merits to ourselves. Many hold faith as an opinion. Saving faith
is a transaction by which those who receive Christ join themselves in covenant
relation with God. Genuine faith is life. A living faith means an increase of vigor,
a confiding trust, by which the soul becomes a conquering power (
The Desire of
Ages, 343, 347
).
[86]
79