I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
Jesus Challenges Doubt
While the Gospel of Mark’s author is anonymous, early church traditions associate the book with John Mark, “the Evangelist.” In Mark 9, he writes about an emotionally charged scene where a father, surrounded by a crowd, is asking Jesus to help his son who is possessed by an evil spirit.
Jesus’ response? Our verse of the day, verse 23: “‘If I can?’ … Anything is possible if a person believes.” The very next verse contains the father’s response, confessing that he does, in fact, believe, but asks that Jesus would help him overcome his unbelief!
This pair of verses extends a rich invitation to dive deep into the questions: What is belief? Why is it so important to Jesus? What can we do when we both believe and doubt at the same time?
The answers can be found in Jesus’ answer. He confronts our “if” with His “anything.” His ability isn’t in question, our belief is. Do we trust Him? Are we confident in Him?
That’s not to say our emotions dictate our faith. Like the boy’s father, we can confess that we’re experiencing both belief and doubt at the same time, trusting God is able to do “anything” with the faith we do have.
Believing in the One who created us stabilizes us. Jesus prizes our belief because, without it, we can’t know Him; it’s the first necessary thing. It’s what allows everything else to follow, and anything at all to become possible.
Truth Changes Everything
Think about the best news you've ever received in your life. Maybe it was a doctor walking into a waiting room and saying, "The surgery went perfectly." Maybe it was a phone call that said, "You got the job." Maybe it was two lines on a pregnancy test you'd been praying for.
Good news changes everything.
But none of those moments, as incredible as they are, even come close to the truth delivered on the first Easter morning:
"He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay."
Matthew 28:6 (NIV)
Jesus had been crucified publicly, brutally, and officially. He was wrapped, sealed in a tomb. There was no question. Jesus was dead. It was true.
But when His followers Mary and Mary Magdalene arrived to grieve? The stone was rolled away. The tomb was empty. And an angel met them with the most stunning announcement in human history.
But the angel doesn’t just tell the women the truth. He invites them to look for themselves. To step inside. To experience the...
