Day 322 - May 4 - My Atrophied Faith Part 4

Well, it's been awhile, but here I go again. For those of you who may have joined us only recently, I have been wrestling with the concept of faith, and with trying to learn why we've been given it, what we're supposed to do with it, and how we're supposed to go about it at least since my first post in the "Atrophied Faith" series on Day 60 back in August 2008, and continued in October with parts 2 and 3.

Well, I'm still at it. I love doing this because A) it makes me think about the things that matter more; B) maybe somebody else will be encouraged and motivated by this discussion as well; and C) I believe that faith, and a scriptural understanding of it, are central to the life of anyone who wants to be more like Jesus. So, here's the latest...

I have been reading the Book of Mark lately in an attempt to understand who, exactly, Jesus is. I've been trying to focus precisely on the words He uses, the actions He takes, and how the people around Him respond to Him. So far, I must admit I like this guy a lot! The bulk of His ministry, according to Mark, is made up of Him healing people who are sick, or injured, or possessed. My kind of guy, as it were!

But there's an interesting couple of verses I want to touch on found in Mark 6. In the first four verses, Jesus goes to Nazareth, the place he grew up, with his disciples. I like to think of it as "chillin' with his homeys". 8-) So He's teaching in Nazareth, and everybody's giving Him flak because they knew Him when He was a boy. Sort of a "Hey, isn't this the carpenter's kid? Who does he think he is, anyway?" kind of thing. And Jesus comments to His friends that a prophet is honored everywhere except around his family. Then we get to Mark's commentary on this situation in verses five and six, which is what I'm interested in here. It says

"And He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He marveled because of their unbelief."

Wow. What those two verses imply is staggering. Remember me discussing the concept that somehow our faith interacts with God's sovereign will? Well, these two verses confirm that idea - Jesus could not (some versions say "was unable to") perform any great works in Nazareth because of the peoples' lack of faith. In fact, their lack of faith is so significant to this idea that the Word says Jesus "marveled" at their unbelief. Again, Wow.

Do you realize what that means? It means this - if it is true that Jesus was unable to do miraculous works because of their lack of faith, then it stands to reason that the corollary is true as well - that faith in some way enables, or allows, God to move and do wonders. So it seems to me that my original supposition is confirmed - our faith connects in some fashion with God's will to move His hand.

Does all this mean that an omnipotent God was unable, somehow, to do something He had wanted to do? I don't think so. I think it means that He has given each person a measure of faith because He wants us to use it - and when we choose not to, He is amazed that we don't.

So let's ask the practical question - how do we use it?

Well, I think it's both a lot easier and a lot harder than we've always thought. Easier, because we've been assimilating a list of actions we can easily enumerate -

Step 1 - Identify your point of need.
Step 2 - Pray about it, believing you have received it.
Step 3 - Repeat Step 2 until you do believe it.
Step 4 - Repeat Step 2 until a) your prayer is answered yes; b) your prayer is answered no; or c) God changes your heart.
Step 5 - If it's A, start praising His name. If it's B, start praying for grace, acceptance, and contentment. If it's C, start praying about what He's changed your heart to.

See, easier! But also harder, because living this in the midst of your need, trial, and struggle is most likely the hardest, most difficult and tiring thing you'll ever attempt - at least the first time. I haven't yet had the opportunity to try this a second time, so I can only assume it gets easier the more you do it. Or maybe not.

But one thing I can tell you from personal experience - God is faithful. Whether your crisis is quadriplegia, or unemployment, or foreclosure, God is and will be faithful to you. If you need a job, pray, believing it's already been found and provided. If you need finances, pray, believing that God has already paid the bill. If you want your son to walk again, pray, believing that the cure has already been applied. As you pray, believe you're seeing the answer unfold before your eyes. Thank God for the answer. Trust Him. Trust Him. Trust Him. Trust Him. Trust Him! Don't quit. Don't give up. Don't despair. Trust Him.

See, easy - and hard. But it's worth doing, and worth doing diligently. Why?

Well, because you just have to ask yourself this question - when Christ looks at me, does He marvel at my unbelief?

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