A brief devotion / teaching that Alan recently shared:
Mark 9: 20-24. CSB. (The Christian Standard Bible translation)
So they brought
the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into
convulsions. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.
“How long has this been happening to him?” Jesus asked his
father. “From childhood,” he said.
“And many times it has thrown him into the fire or water to
destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’? Everything is possible for the one who
believes.”
Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe;
help my unbelief
!”
I included the early verses of that passage for context, but
for me the key verse is the capper, the punch line: “Lord I believe. Help my
unbelief.”
I love how human that statement is, this co-mingling of belief
and unbelief.
And this is simultaneous. If you say those sentences, “I
believe. Help my unbelief.” – there is less than a second between those
sentences. These can exist in the same person, at the same time, this faith and
doubt, this belief and unbelief.
I think that in the modern American church, we flinch at the
notion of unbelief, of doubt, those are harsh-sounding words. Perhaps you’ve
been in situations where expressions of doubt or uncertainty over a particular
bit of theology was greeted with … criticism, with condemnation. Or perhaps
you’ve been told than any little bit of doubt is sin.
But no, that is not the case. “Lord I believe. Help my
unbelief.”
So I prefer to think in terms of certainty and uncertainty.
Maybe uncertainty, that is a less troublesome-sounding word than doubt or
unbelief.
But whatever we call it, it goes hand-in-hand with belief.
Doubt and faith, we can think of them as different sides of the same coin – but
remember, it is the same coin!
A lot of churches recite the Apostles Creed, as part of their
service. Our church has a point where we recite something together, often a
Bible passage, and every month or so it’s the Apostles Creed. Now there’s one
clause I’m not sure about, but most of the time I’m at a solid 98% on the Creed.
But I’ll be honest, there are times when I scan through the Creed and …. I’m
more like believing 75% of that stuff.
But those questions, whatever momentary uncertainties I may
have, they aren’t because I don’t believe. It’s actually because I want to take
my faith seriously, I want to know what I believe. That’s why I study, why I
read theology, to know as best I can what I believe. And I do that with a
willingness to learn – and if I’m gonna learn, I need to be willing to change
my mind a little bit, there need to be some places where I set my certainty
aside. So I can learn.
I would also mention ideas of essentials versus non-essentials
in terms of theologies. Essentials are the foundational things, and to me
that’s a pretty small list, mostly revolving around the person and work on
Jesus … and the types of things in the Apostles Creed. Yes, there are some
things we stand firmly on, but there are a lot of areas, lots of doctrines,
where some questions, some uncertainty, some willingness to learn … not just
not a bad thing, might actually be a good thing.
“Lord I believe. Help my unbelief.”
So in conclusion, which is what every preacher says when they
have 10 more minutes to go and 4 more key points to make … but in conclusion, I
intend this to be encouraging. Give yourself grace – give others grace, of
course, but give yourself grace … for your moments of … call it whatever we
want … our moments of uncertainty, of doubt, of unbelief … remember that they
are OK. It’s not about being fully one or the other, believing or unbelieving;
as humans, we are a strange melange of both.
Doubts are OK. Questions are OK. God can handle your
questions, and he can handle your doubts.
Doubts, questions, even times of unbelief … they don’t mean
that you don’t believe.
