In today’s culture, the way we practice faith can unfortunately become a sort of competition quite often. Especially with the widespread use of social media, we can become focused on how others live as Christians. And, as a result of this, we begin to know more than we should about others’ personal relationships with our Lord. As truly important as it is to share our testimonies about how Christ has worked in our lives (those stories can most definitely guide people into the faith!), there is a certain point at which a relationship with God should stay personal. If it doesn’t, we can start to compare our walk of faith with someone else’s, and this unrealistic practice can lead to comparisons that could have been prevented. Truly, the way that God works in your life cannot be compared with how He has worked in another’s life. You are uniquely made and chosen by Him; thus, your journey with Him will also be unique.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus takes the deaf man away from the crowd, and He heals him in private. This can be seen as a representation of our individual walks with God. Though we must make disciples of all nations and therefore share about Him to as many people as we can, Jesus does tell them in verse 36, “not to tell anyone.” It seems as though this healing was meant to be kept as a personal interaction with Christ to prevent the story from being spread with things such as pride, misinformation, or competition. Of course, we know that they still do end up spreading the information and proclaiming what Jesus did, but that doesn’t mean they should have. They did disobey Christ by doing so. We are meant to share how Christ has helped us overcome battles; we are not meant to proclaim how He has worked in us in a comparative way with how He has worked in others. Sharing specific stories can sometimes be helpful, but we must make sure we do so for the glory of God, not to inflate our own lives to others.
Good point Grace, thank you