Belief, Unbelief

“Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

Mark 9:24

All to often today we hear people who speak of how sold out they are for Jesus. The initial response for many of us may be an envy like state where we desire to be as sold out as this other person. We then begin to wander down this winding road of doubt and unbelief.

For centuries we have been taught that doubt is improper and that anyone who truly loves the Lord should never experience a hint of this devil called doubt. However, it seems that no matter how hard we attempt to oppress it, most of us still experience it.

I desire to set you free today and tell you that sometimes I have doubt. I doubt that I truly believe in God. I doubt that my faith is strong enough to carry on. I doubt my calling. I doubt my vision. I doubt just about everything, but I don’t doubt God. Did you catch that? I don’t doubt God.

That is the tricky thing with doubt. Many of us have not taken the time to differentiate between the things we doubt. It is one thing to doubt our faith and it is another thing to doubt God’s ability. When I pray I believe, it is in the time after that I may doubt. However, my doubt is always inward and never upward.

That is pretty powerful in and of itself. If we only doubt inward, then we are only truly doubting ourselves. When we doubt upward then we doubt God. There is a difference.

In the story depicted above in the scripture we see that, even in the days of Jesus, there was a difference between the beliefs. This scripture indicates that you can believe and disbelieve all at the same time! We learn that it is perfectly all right to love and have faith in God, but doubt your own ability to do so.

I know that much of this seems odd. You are probably wondering how you can both believe and disbelieve at the same time. But think about it. When you struggle with doubt do you ever doubt what God can do? Most likely not.

My focus is not trying to have more faith of God’s ability, but to increase my faith in believing He can do so. It is a weird thing I know, and words are escaping me on how to completely sum it up. Maybe you need to find the words for your self. I find that I understand this thing of differentiating doubt, but am unable to speak it. Much in the way as I am able to understand the presence of the Holy Spirit, but am unable to explain it. Sometimes God is just unexplainable.

In conclusion, I will say that I pray none of you loses faith. It is okay to struggle with doubt time and again, we all pretty much do. Just remember to never doubt God’s ability, after all he doesn’t, and even more importantly God has never doubted you.

Remembering Nora

“Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart^[1]”

In many ways this past week was quite difficult for me. I had been struggling with flu like symptoms where I was just completely drained of all energy. To go along with this illness there was plenty of work to be done. With multiple papers to write and hectic days at work I was not certain that I could accomplish everything that was on my plate. Then something happened fully unexpected.

I had received a phone call that a woman I had met a few months back had just passed away. Her name was Nora. In having only met with her once I was not certain I knew much about her. From what she had told me she helped build this very church along with her children by selling fried pies to the workmen as they went to lunch. This was quite an intriguing story.

After visiting with her for a short while I had learned that she was a fiery woman of that old time faith that we rarely see anymore. She told me of what an abomination it was to see women going to church in pants and men should always wear their suits (I was quite thankful that I was in a suit that day). She fully believed in the power of the blood and just knew God would heal her through and through. Some would say that never did come to fruition, others (as would I) would disagree.

In meeting with her children in preparation for services I learned yet another level of Nora. They described a loving, caring, and devoted woman. They told me of a mom, not a mother. To some there may be no difference in these titles, but to those who have experienced it know better.

The difference is that anyone can be a mother, but it takes love, care, and devotion to be a mom. Nora cared not for this world and the possessions around her, but she cared greatly for her people, and we were all her people.

The Word teaches us to love one another greatly, for love covers a multitude of sin. Well, I believe that Nora covered a couple multitudes herself, and now as she sits with Jesus attempts to cover some more.

As a pastor I meet many people day to day and deal with marriage and death and birth at any given moment. At times it can seem to run together, but not Nora. In one meeting with her I fell in love, not because of who she was, but because of whom she served. Therefore in memory of an old time Kentucky saint can we should all try to love a little more not because of who we are, but because of whom we serve.

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^[1] The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (1 Pe 1:22). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

One God, One Master

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” Matthew 6:24

The other day I was reading in the Old Testament where Hilkiah, a priest during the reign of Josiah, was assisting in the cleaning out of the temple and discovered a tome of great wealth. What he found buried under the material wealth of the king was the Book of the Law as given to the Israelite nation by Moses. This sacred book had been lost many years, just as Israel had been lost during that same time.

Stop and think about this scenario for one moment. The king Josiah had commissioned the workmen and the priests to clean out the temple. The wealth of the nation had become so great that it was literally stored in the house of God. As time had passed the people began to forget who it was that blessed them in the first place. As time had passed people began to stop looking to the Lord and began to look toward the riches. As a result the Book of the Law became buried and lost.

In our own lives we often find ourselves in a similar situation. When we are down on our luck and have hardly anything to offer the world, or at least that is what we tell ourselves, we begin to turn to God with a renewed fervency. As we pray, fast, and study harder we begin to see God move. Favor is poured onto us and there begins windfalls of blessings.

As this favor grows and our lives improve we begin this state of contentment. Our prayers become less frequent, our fasting turns into gluttony, and our study becomes short recollections of what we once read. In short we lose our sacred devotion to the riches we gained in the world.

Now honestly look at yourself. Are you currently or have you in the past ever-allowed God to be buried and hidden by the wealth of this world? I am certain that nearly everyone will honestly answer yes. It is just who we are. Admit it! Don’t deny yourself the healing of admitting your weakness.

If we continue on this path of honest reflection we see that it really makes sense. We need to fail at successfully serving God through our own doing, so that we may better understand what it means to serve God throughGod's doing. After all, if we could serve God and not need His intercession to keep us upright then what was the point of Jesus? Jesus is what allows us to continue to find our sacred devotion, our Book of the Law, under the wealth of this world. Without Him we would be eternally lost and buried by the world.

Jesus taught in the Book of Matthew that we couldn’t serve two masters. Many have taught that this was in reference to only money, but it can be for all things. Anything that gets in the way of the service of God can in some ways be your master, whether this is a mound of gold in the temple or an activity that takes time away from devotion.

We must do everything we can to serve God with our entire mind, all of our body, and all of our soul. It cannot be allowed for something to get in the way. Therefore I challenge you today to find that mound of gold in your heart that has buried the God in your life and set Him free. Watch what happens when the windows of Heaven open upon you. Just never lose focus, never lose God.