Caleb

Several Sundays ago we spent our time together in James 1:12-18 and considered how God builds the faith of His people and does not erode it. It seems necessary after contemplating a statement like that to spend some time thinking through what exactly faith looks like.

Faith is a word that’s thrown around in our culture pretty liberally. It’s easy to find in film, television, pop songs, and in script fonts above our kitchen sinks.

So when we consider faith from a biblical perspective, it’s good to think through Mark 9 and explore the man’s remark “I believe; help my unbelief (Mark 9:24)!” It seems like a paradoxical exclamation in some sense. Belief and unbelief are opposites. Yet, it seems that Jesus finds this response to be the correct one as the man’s son convulsed on the floor.

The importance of what the man says exists in the broken nature of it. Faith is not something conjured to bring about a desired result. It’s the full-on admission that what is most needed cannot come from within. It’s the full-on admission that what is most needed only comes through Christ. And it’s exemplified in the man’s cry.

Later in the story, Jesus tells the disciples that the type of demon that had taken up residence inside of the man’s son could only be driven out by prayer. But the interesting thing is that Mark doesn’t record Jesus praying; Jesus simply commands the demon to come out. If I was amongst the disciples, I would have left scratching my head. Is it possible that Mark just does not record the prayer? It’s possible. However, it appears to be that Jesus is making an assertion about His deity in line with His words in John 15:5: “apart from me you can do nothing.” Jesus then is the object of our faith.

One of the anthems echoing in the current age of rampant individualism is “just believe in yourself.” This is idolatry. A gospel that promotes believing in oneself is a false gospel. Jesus demands to be the object of our faith, but we would rather toss ourselves into that role. It’s convenient; we get to call the shots: no caring for the downcast or afflicted when it doesn’t fit into our schedule, no one telling us what to do with “my money” when things get tight, no accountability when surfing the internet at midnight, no bloody cross-bearing that results in death to self and sin.

For the man in Mark 9–and subsequently for us–it was an ongoing admission that he needs Jesus to be both the object (“I believe”) and the source (“help my unbelief”). Faith isn’t a complex thing. God promises salvation to us and makes a way in His Son. Faith is believing that God is faithful to His promises and acknowledging that Jesus is the way through which His promises are brought to completion.

Our understanding of faith must be grounded in the source and the object. And sorry, John Hiatt, it’s not you.

Misplaced faith will always lead to despair. Faith in Jesus does not. Why? Because when Jesus says “Let not your hearts be troubled” (John 14:1a), He is the one who can point to Himself and provide the antidote for a troubled heart.