Thought for Today
Unbelief and the Good News
“Why could not we cast him out?
And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief”
Matthew 17:19
God’s movings and the shining forth of His salvation are proportional to our faith. It is in the crucible of the realities of life that the true condition of the church is revealed. Truth is the vehicle and the means whereby His thoughts concerning us are expressed. We often speak of truth in terms of His love for us, in terms of His promises and His plans and purposes; but Jesus is always “laying the axe to the root” of our lives. His words can be sharp and to the point. We must see that these words in truth are also the proof of His love.
“Because of our unbelief”
This child would have gone on in the condition in which he came. The agony of his father would have remained unchanged, the situation unaffected by the prayers of the unbelieving disciples. It is here that Jesus presented the truth of the matter. It was not a word given to condemn; it was given to them to arise from where they were into where He had called them to be.
Unbelief is not something about which we should feel condemned. It is His desire that we face our unbelief with the certainty that He has something better, fuller and more blessed concerning our walk in Him. His sharp word spoken to our unbelief is filled with the heart of One who is calling us to better things. It is our response to His word wherein lies the crisis. Do we turn a deaf ear to this reproof or do we acknowledge it. The truth is that the our powerlessness is in the condition of our heart and not in His power? Are we offended by this word or do we feel the promise pulsating within it?
There is always a cure for unbelief, but there is no cure for a heart that refuses the verdict of Jesus. His exhortations are always given to us in order that we may lay these things to heart and not make excuses; to let His words cut asunder our hardness of heart and turn to Him for the fuller measure of all that He is.
“Ye have sown much, and bring in little…
Thus saith the Lord of hosts;
Consider your ways”
Haggai 1:6-7
We must consider our ways for unbelief is the fruit of how we walk, how we think and how we live. Let us hear these words of exhortation and count them as promises of greater things. His heart is full and His call goes out to any who would hear.
“Unto you first God,
having raised up his Son Jesus,
sent him to bless you,
in turning away every one of you from his iniquities”
Acts 3:26
It is called the Good News for in turning from our ways we will find His!
“Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness
and forbearance and long-suffering;
not knowing that the goodness of God
leadeth thee to repentance?”
Romans 2:4
Brian Troxel
I remember a sermon I heard once where the pastor was preaching on cutting out the dead wood in our life. Then he pulled out an axe and started thumping it on the pulpit (sharp side up and taped for safety). With each thump he would shout, “Cut out the dead wood in your life!” The thump of the axe and his words echoed through the church. He did this several times and then let the silence hang there for what seemed like an eternity. There wasn’t a peep in the church as we all stared at the axe in his hands. I still vividly remember this more than 30 years later.