KEEP ON!

I was preparing this last week for my preaching today at the church, where we fellowship. It was a familiar passage from Mark 5:21-36: RAISING JAIRUS' DAUGHTER & HEALING OF A WOMAN WITH THE ISSUE OF BLOOD

I felt God challenge me with a thought which is repeated 3 times in the above passage.
2 of which are hidden in the English text & 1 is pretty obvious. I'll mention it here:

a) vs.28 - "...because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed".
b) vs.32 - "But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it"
c) vs.36 - "Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, 'Dont be afraid; just believe'".

The fact is, all 3 statements are in a present continuous tense - but we can see that only in the 2nd verse. We have lost precious connections in the translation here.
The Gk translation for the 1st and 3rd verse reads as follows:
vs.28 - "...but she kept saying ..."
vs.36 - "...Don't be afraid, just go on believing"

The odds were against these people.
Imagine the woman - for 12 long years, she struggled and spent all the money she had, been to many doctors, but was only getting worse.
Mark makes mention of a large crowd (5x) who were following Jesus on that particular day. Luke in his version (8:42) says that the crowd almost crushed Jesus.
Did this lady stand a chance to go and touch Jesus in that crowd? Perhaps not!
She was an outcast because of the sickness; moreover she was a woman. She might have had a bad odour due to the sickness.
What if after all the efforts, she couldn't reach Jesus?

Well, the odds were certainly against her ... that's where the words SHE KEPT SAYING comes into play.
Whenever she was confronted with a negative feeling/thought to pull her down, she would encourage herself with the words, IF ONLY I TOUCH HIM..I WILL BE HEALED.
She had to keep doing that over and over again, whenever she was faced with such negativity, UNTIL she reached Jesus and touched Him and was healed of her infirmity.


The other incident was with Jairus - here he was confronted with the reality of his daughter's death.
Look at Jesus in vs.36 - He ignored the people who brought the news about the girls death.
Why would Jesus ignore reality?

Jairus might have had a lot of things to think about at this stage ... and that's where Jesus encourages him to "...go on believing".


When reality strikes, we feel lost and fail to see beyond that.
And it's vital that we learn to KEEP ON believing...
To KEEP ON saying...
To KEEP ON thinking...
... and not dwell on that which is going to sink us in.

In vs.32 - Jesus KEPT LOOKING, until he found the person who touched Him. The disciples almost ridiculed and asked him with contempt, how can he ask such a question? They perhaps thought Jesus' nut was a bit loose, when he asked the question, "Who touched me?", in that crowd.


Do we have such determination to KEEP ON?
Maybe the reality is different than what has been promised to us ... but Jesus would ignore that and would say to us, "...GO ON BELIEVING.."

Are we ready for that? We will be faced with odds in life.
We need that courage and determination to KEEP ON.
Christian Life is not a 'flash in a pan' - one day emotional event. It's a life-style of making correct choices to believe in Him and in His Word and in His promises.
Let's keep on keeping on.