Faith

Gospel	Mark 9:14-29 ©

Help the little faith I have!

When Jesus, with Peter, James and John came down from the mountain and rejoined the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and some scribes arguing with them. The moment they saw him the whole crowd was struck with amazement and ran to greet him. ‘What are you arguing about with them?’ he asked. A man answered him from the crowd, ‘Master, I have brought my son to you; there is a spirit of dumbness in him, and when it takes hold of him it throws him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and goes rigid. And I asked your disciples to cast it out and they were unable to.’ ‘You faithless generation’ he said to them in reply. ‘How much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me.’ They brought the boy to him, and as soon as the spirit saw Jesus it threw the boy into convulsions, and he fell to the ground and lay writhing there, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the father, ‘How long has this been happening to him?’ ‘From childhood,’ he replied ‘and it has often thrown him into the fire and into the water, in order to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us.’ ‘If you can?’ retorted Jesus. ‘Everything is possible for anyone who has faith.’ Immediately the father of the boy cried out, ‘I do have faith. Help the little faith I have!’ And when Jesus saw how many people were pressing round him, he rebuked the unclean spirit. ‘Deaf and dumb spirit,’ he said ‘I command you: come out of him and never enter him again.’ Then throwing the boy into violent convulsions it came out shouting, and the boy lay there so like a corpse that most of them said, ‘He is dead.’ But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him up, and he was able to stand. When he had gone indoors his disciples asked him privately, ‘Why were we unable to cast it out?’ ‘This is the kind’ he answered ‘that can only be driven out by prayer.’

Faith – it is something that we all profess to have but do we know what it is and how it works?  Faith is not an emotion although it can be based on an emotional experience.  Faith is knowing that something is true even though now you cannot see it.  It would be like looking out of your window and seeing that a violent storm was raging but taking your sunglasses and sunblock with you anyway because you know that even when you are standing in this pouring rain that the sun will shine again. [1]  Faith is a choice we make every day.  Faith is trust in God and trust in His promises despite the situations we find ourselves in.  We may be going through a divorce, a child may be sick in our household, our spouse may have a debilitating or terminal disease, any number of things can try to rob of the notion that God loves us, but it is our trust that allows us to keep our faith.  Look at the Christians that were slaughtered in those lands that were infested by ISIS.  One group was lined up and the kept praying and praising Jesus.  One person in the line was not a Christian or a Muslim and he was told that if he immediately converted to Islam that he would be allowed to live.  He saw the faith of the Christians to his left and how joyful they were, and he said to his captors, “Their God is my God.” 

Faith sometimes is thought of being between “Jesus and me.”  While there is a personal dimension to faith, there is the fact that it is also a tool that allows us to testify with our lives, our minds, and our voice that Jesus Christ is Lord.  We always must be ready to answer questions about why we have faith in such a strange proposition that God came to earth as a man and died for us.  We must share what having this faith has done for us in our lives, how it has made things better for us despite the apparent contradictions of sickness or pain or of misfortune that have entered our lives.  A Christian can be joyful in all circumstances, even when disaster strikes because he or she knows that they, personally, by name, are loved by God as no other creature is and this love will conquer all things and will strengthen them for what is to come.   Share your life, share your faith.

 

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[1] Stephan Curtis Chapman - Heaven in the Real World