In our bible class last night we reviewed my
second most favorite (or meaningful to me) verse. It is contained in a
narrative in Mark 9:14-30 where Jesus casts a demon out of a
young boy. The father is challenged concerning his faith and his response in verse 24 was, “I believe, help thou
my unbelief”, or “I do believe, but help me to have a stronger
faith.”
One of the reasons this is one of my most
favorite passages is that I can identify with those words more than you might
suspect. You see, we tend to look at people and form an opinion about them and
their faith from a very limited knowledge of them. You consider what you know
of me, my ministries, our mission efforts and think, “Russ has it all together,
I bet he never worries about anything.” Well, if that's way you think, you
would be wrong. It may be true that my wife and I have faced some challenges
which you have not. It may be true that we have undertaken works that you would
rather not, but that doesn't mean that my faith is unshakable. That may or may
not surprise you, but I believe that God places us where he wants us to be and
perhaps those places are to challenge, test or strengthen our faith.
You will never know how many times I have
prayed, “Lord, I believe, but help me have a stronger faith. Help me have a
faith that trusts you more and that let's me give more control of my life to
you”. “I believe, help thou my unbelief!”
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