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.
Luke 15
“Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours ...
