Jesus, I see what you’ve done for other people
One of my favourite scriptures is Romans 12:15: “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.”
It captures, essentially, how we, as Christians, holding on to faith, should approach life: we should be considerate towards other people’s needs, wants, sufferings, happiness, sad moments, difficult times, prosperity, etc. What then is “consideration”? According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “consideration” means “thoughtfulness for other people”.
Recently, a certain meme has been going around social media — and popularised on Twitter — that caught my intention, with the caption “Jesus, I see what you’ve done for other people, and I want that for me.” The meme has been used under posts of people celebrating finding an equally beautiful spouse, to posts of people talking about how they randomly mentioned they needed an iPhone Xs and their friends showed up, to posts of thanking siblings for surprising them with cars, to posts of people telling stories of how they fell on hard times but surprising God showed up with his blessings of dream jobs, dream opportunities, etc.
I got thinking: throwing this meme on any and every post of people’s blessings or good times, does it fall into something problematic, but widely ignored? Are we usurping, in a sense, other people’s moments, and making them ours, slipping into jealousy and envy or plain selfishness? Are we becoming self-centred that we turn everyone’s moments into our moments, while being spiritual about our actions, with “I am just using them as a point of reference”?
How does this weigh against the scriptures?
There are so many instances in the scriptures where the past works of God to a people are referenced. There are instances where the children of God bring to his remembrance miracles He performed in the days of their ancestors or to some other people. Not that God has a forgetful memory or that He wants us to keep asking and asking like the Nigerian government before He does the bare minimum. God doesn’t play like that. Asking God for something to be done, while bringing up what He has done for someone or did in the past for another, could be building up our faith on his wondrous acts.
Let us take the story of Bartimaeus. In Mark 10:46–52, there was a certain man, Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, who had heard stories of the miracles Jesus had performed, and he believing he could have his own healing, based on the stories of Jesus, he cried out. Verse 47 talks about how “he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth”. Mark 2:1–12 details the miracle of a paralytic man, whose four believing friends, following news of Jesus’ healing of other similar cases, took their friend to meet Jesus for his own miracle. How do we know their faith was activated by the miracles of others? Mark 1: 28–45:
28 And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee.
29 And forthwith, when they were come out of the synagogue, they entered into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.
30 But Simon’s wife’s mother lay sick of a fever, and anon they tell him of her.
31 And he came and took her by the hand, and lifted her up; and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them.
32 And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils.
33 And all the city was gathered together at the door.
34 And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils; and suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew him.
35 And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.
36 And Simon and they that were with him followed after him.
37 And when they had found him, they said unto him, All men seek for thee.
38 And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth.
39 And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and cast out devils.
40 And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
41 And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean.
42 And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed.
43 And he straitly charged him, and forthwith sent him away;
44 And saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.
45 But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter.
Then, Mark 2:1: “And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house.”
Our faith can be built on the faith of others. One of my favourite hymns as a child who grew up Baptist is “Faith of Our Fathers”. We experience some things which, with reference to our forebears, we know we can overcome, as we have examples of how they overcame; we can reference what God has done for others, knowing He is the same yesterday, today, and can never change because of changing times. Holding on to miracles of others strengthens us to push for our own miracles. In the miracle of the lame in Acts 3, Peter, in verse 13, referenced what God did for people in the past, knowing that that potency was still present, as the “God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers” was still the same God. Psalm 106 starts with recalling the mighty acts of the Lord, and asking Him to remember, because in doing this, we acknowledge that what we seek isn’t beyond his power or ability to bring to reality. Other places in the scriptures we see people referring to what God did for others à la Psalm 136.
We read, or see, what God has done for others, and our faith can be built, because faith works by hearing.
