Faith, part 8

Powerful faith was regularly on display in the New Testament from an extremely unlikely source. Demons. They did it deceptively, however, and in a way that shows their true motivation. This is shown in Luke 4:41:

“And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of God!’ And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ.”

The demons didn’t just believe. They knew. They were so confident that Jesus was the Son of God that He had to shut them up to keep them from telling everyone. This may seem odd, but He did this so that people could have faith. He didn’t want those with inside knowledge to reveal the truth to humanity. He wants us to believe through faith, and not because someone told us with 100% certainty Jesus is the way, the truth, and the light.

This is why they often pleaded for mercy in His presence. They knew what He could do to them. They feared Him. He had complete power over them. He would often force them, but would even show them mercy when they asked for it.

We do not know as the demons do. Jesus doesn’t force us as He does the demons, and that is out of love. He doesn’t just want us to know. He wants us to believe. Through that belief we can come to know Christ, but it must be a choice. We must choose to have faith. Complete faith is a powerful thing. The demons were determined to make sure we knew as they did not for our benefit, but to harm us. They wanted to make faith impossible, and Jesus wisely protected its power from their interference. The demons are afraid of what we can do if we have faith. It is in their interest to rob us of that power. It is in our interest to embrace it.

Have faith, and know why demons think it’s better for you to know the truth than to have faith in the Savior. With faith we can overcome all our insecurities, our sins, and our fears. Faith makes it so demons can have no sway over us. Faith makes us into the better person Christ wants us to be. Faith makes us impossible to destroy or defeat. The demons know the real truth, and want to keep us from faith. They would prefer we never learn what a beautiful thing true faith in Christ can be.