Friday, September 5, 2025
IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE!
Mark 9:23-24
23 Jesus
said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that
believeth.
24 And
straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I
believe; help thou mine unbelief.
Belief
is the “assent of the mind to the truth of any
proposition.” (McClintock and Strong). Belief does not need any means or
arguments but may simply be a response to our senses. What makes one witness
credible while another witness is discredited?
In
Mark 9, the father of the demonized son relates the failure
of other means to release his son from this torture. The father then pleads
with Jesus saying, “but if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and
help us.” This was almost a statement of doubt and not a statement of faith.
The father was willing to try this one more thing, but you can hear the doubt
in his plea.
Jesus
answered that belief is crucial to the cure. The
father then admits the weakness of his faith and asks for help in believing. So,
it is with us. We believe with the weakest faith at our disposal. Without
evidence, we place our trust in an invisible God.
God
always allows for doubt because doubt and belief exist
together. Cures, miracles, and turn-a-rounds can almost always be ascribed to
natural means. Only the believer assigns the cure to God. Doubters go on
doubting, even in the face of miracles, while believers go on believing.
Only
when the doubter is willing to ask for help in believing does he
move from one realm to another. When the doubter acknowledges his doubt, and
agrees to the possibility of belief, faith is born.
Belief
grows as we exercise faith. Stephen, in Acts 5 and 6, was said to
be a man “full of faith” or “covered over with persuasion.” He maintained his
faith even while being stoned to death and saw, by faith, Jesus standing at the
Father’s right hand ready to welcome him home.
Dear
Lord, we beg with the disciples, to increase our faith! AMEN
No comments:
Post a Comment