So what!

Jesus...Faith...Doctrine? As I mentioned in a previous post, when looking or trying to understand faith from Jesus' perspective we'd be better off looking for how to live out faith instead of just...trying to understand? Does that make sense. Ok I'll get to it!

In Mark, chapter 9 to be exact, there's this amazing story. There's just so much to see, like Jesus for instance you basically feel the tension and heartache, maybe even anger in his words, "O unbelieving generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you?..." It's like he's just waiting for people to get alongside him and be part of what he's doing!
But when Jesus talks about "unbelief" what does he mean?

Then theirs the dad and his kid! The Dad sheds so much light on what faith could be considered to look like. After Jesus asks him what wrong with his son, the dad exclaims, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" What does Jesus do?

He heals the Boy! Not only does the dad struggle with "unbelief" he is taking on the faith of his son. So, two things, the first; having faith is not about conjuring up magical powers from God to know, that you know, that you know that everything will be ok. No, it seems that faith consists of being honest with the way things are, not pretending that you feel like crap, or that you doubt whether or not God will show up. But faith is not just wallowing in those unredemptive feelings and thoughts.

Secondly, having faith is not all up to me! Do you know how good that feels? I don't have to be all good all the time, I can be honest, I can be human, I can be me. I can rely on friends and family, when I just...don't....have the strength to pull through those times when I doubt and curse and can't see God in the situation. It's not all up to me, I have my part, but I don't need to pretend anymore.

I'm not suggesting that what I've written is 'the' model of faith, but I do think it's part of it. Why else would that story be in the Gospels?

AndyC