Have you ever thought, If someone were raised from the dead, I know people would believe? Or, If I could do a miracle for my friends, I know they would believe?

The blind man was willing to answer questions about his healing, regardless of who was asking. Responses to his testimony varied. The neighbors argued over the genuineness of his story and demanded to know how he came to see. The man explained what had happened, with no embellishments: he'd met a man named Jesus, who gave him some instructions. When he obeyed, he was healed. Though the neighbors couldn't deny what had happened, they had trouble accepting the account, because they could not understand it. The world still does the same thing—what they can't explain, they try to deny.

In Mark's gospel, Jesus made a fascinating statement that some have misunderstood. Speaking of believers, He said, "They will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover" (Mark 16:18). Some, of course, have misunderstood this and have held snake-handling services. But that is not trusting the Lord; it is testing the Lord.

The Lord will use a Christian's personal testimony in powerful ways. As we speak about how God has rescued and changed us, the Holy Spirit can heighten people's interest in spiritual matters and use our words to help them seek Christ as their Savior.

It's so easy to settle for less than God's best for us because we don't always feel like taking responsibility for our behavior or putting forth some effort to do what we need to do so we can accomplish great things for God and help people. But the cost of settling for less is actually harder than being completely obedient to God's will.

Peter's denial of Jesus did not happen over a period of seconds or minutes, but over a period of hours. An hour passed from the time the first person said, "You were one of those with Jesus the Galilean," to the time Peter denied his Lord for the second time. He had ample opportunity to hightail it out of there, but for some reason he hung around.