Monday, December 12, 2022

 

Monday, December 12, 2022


Psalms 99; 100

Isaiah 10:33 – 11:9

Mark 9:2 – 32


Observance: Third Monday in Advent


“I believe; help my unbelief”


What do we mean when we talk about “belief”? Or “faith”? Is it a gut feeling? Or maybe a strong sense of intellectual assent?


Maybe it is a strong inclination towards one over the other. When times are good, the gut feeling can be quite pleasant, like a warm bath on a cold night, or a cold drink on a hot day. When times are not so good, we can find ourselves clinging on the edge of the cliff by the fingertips of our minds.


Some people seem to have a very deep, strong faith. They can be an encouragement; to know that there are people out there that really believe in all this stuff. They can also sometimes be confronting and threatening: this is usually the result from us comparing ourselves in our mind to others. Being with someone who has greater faith than ourselves can make us feel like we must be missing out, or missing something.


The faith that saves, that is, saving faith in the finished work of Christ and the knowledge that that is all that is needed to be right with God, doesn’t work on a scale. It is either there, or not. If we feel like we only have a sliver of that faith, we are welcomed into the kingdom just as quickly as those who feel like they could never doubt.


The faith that is on a scale is the faith to bring God’s blessing into this world. Jesus is talking about defeating evil forces in the spiritual realm when He is talking about the lack of belief in this passage, not entrance into the kingdom. We can be sure of our adoption as children of God even if we have just a sliver of faith, because that kind of faith cannot be taught or inherited. This kind of faith, faith that saves, is a miracle of God’s Holy Spirit. Even if we doubt whether God loves us, we can take that doubt as proof that He does, because the unregenerate mind would not even ask such a question in the first place.


If, like the father in this passage, we do want the kind of faith that brings God’s blessings into this world, Jesus shows us where to look for it. It is through prayer. Because prayer is our connection with God. Prayer is where we hear God’s voice, and He will show us where to look for the miracles He is performing each day.



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