Time Travel

I’m pretty obsessed with memories of my earlier life. I love to retrace my steps. I’m so grateful that I am able to remember so much. Life would be quite dull for me if I couldn’t remember anything about my past. But if I were offered a super power, I’d like to become a ghost and travel back to any point of my life. I could observe or maybe even inhabit my own body and be one of my earlier selves 😊. Maybe I could set a timer, so after an hour or whatever, I’d get back to my current self. I could even expand it and travel anywhere through history or anywhere in the universe. Or I could ask to have an alternative world created where everyone was perfectly nice all the time. And I could go where I pleased.

Anyway, enough fantasy, what about something that’s a little more realistic? I wonder how many people consider this statement by Jesus realistic.

Mark 11:23
²³ “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.

Did anyone ever succeed in doing this? Why did Jesus even provide this illustration? Perhaps He was emphasizing that God isn’t restricted. We mustn’t have faith in mere “faith”. We are called to have faith in God. And when we pray, several things can prevent our prayer being answered. If we’re not right with God or approaching Him in true faith, we can’t expect to be heard. But even if we do have the right attitude, our prayer might not be aligned to the will of God. Even Jesus didn’t always have His prayers to His father answered.

Matthew 26:39
³⁹ Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

He prayed that prayer when He was facing the cross. He dreaded what would happen the next day, and appears to have hoped that there was some other way to save sinners, but left it in His Father’s hands. And even apart from that, when you examine the gospels, things didn’t always go smoothly for Jesus and His disciples. And even though the Apostles were very godly people, they met some huge difficulties, which we can read about in the Book of Acts.

So why did Jesus present an illustration that might make us feel that we could have superpowers? When situations seem impossible or obstacles seem insurmountable, that shouldn’t discourage us from prayer. We could get a mountain to throw itself into the sea if it was God’s will and if God prompted us to pray that we could. So, we shouldn’t limit God. And prayer is a super power. I want the whole world to know about Jesus and His promise of salvation for all those who repent and believe. I don’t know why God hasn’t revealed it to the whole world. But He’s given us the job of doing it. And when you think about it, such a thing must have seemed impossible to a group of demoralized disciples after Jesus was crucified. But then, everything changed. Within weeks, thousands came to Christ. It later became millions. Nowadays, statistically it’s billions. I’m not sure how many are genuine believers, but at least billions have heard the message.

As for those who have yet to hear, I can quietly hope that He has other ways of reaching them, but He has commanded me to spread the message and to pray. And while I’m here on this earth, these are my super powers. I’d still like to travel back in time, but who knows? Perhaps I’ll be allowed to do that in heaven 😊. But spreading the good news is far more important.