Belief and Unbelief: Not an either/or but a both/and (Mark 9:24)
Mark 9:24 “The Father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”
What an amazing thought. Is it possible to believe and at the same time need help overcoming unbelief. Perhaps God’s black and white is different from ours. Perhaps God is big enough to hold things in tension that we see as competing forces. How is it possible to believe in something while at the same time needing help with overcoming unbelief of the very thing we say we believe in? I think it pretty awesome that this man in the text is able to proclaim belief and at the same time confess a desire to receive help with his unbelief. Its as if he says, “Yes, I do believe Jesus and at the same time that I believe Jesus I need help with my unbelief of the very thing I claim to believe.” Wow!
What would it look like for a group of people to come together each week and say, “Jesus we believe, but will you please help us with our unbelief?” My hunch is that Jesus would move this group to places of faithfulness they haven’t traveled before. We live in a world that proclaims that to believe we must be certain and if we are not certain then we can’t believe. Perhaps on of the most exciting things about following Jesus is that we can proclaim belief while at the same time needing help with our unbelief in the very thing we claim to believe in. Perhaps we should celebrate this tension instead of shy away from it.
I come today to say that I believe Jesus Christ is Lord and at the same time pleading with God to help me in my unbelief. I have to say its pretty liberating to be able to make that statement…praise God for His grace!
Great post.
I believe that God is to big for us to completely understand. If there are no questions, there is no mystery: if there is no mystery, there is no God. I question the honesty of anyone that says they have God figured out. Even Adam and Eve had ‘unbelief’ in what God said, and they walked with Him!
I agree that if a tribe of people where to claim their unbelief and present it to God, there would be great spiritual growth. I think in that situation you would see great freedom and honesty that would lead to true healing and grace. God knows our hearts. He also knows that we are flawed humans that can look truth in the eyes and not always see it. Sometimes it is our ‘unbelief’ that drives our hunger to dig deeper and draw closer to God.