An Atheist's Anthem ...

 “If I only saw a sign, I would believe.”  This is a familiar chorus I have heard from nearly every non-believer I have encountered.  Sadly, it is also a familiar refrain I have heard from many Christians.  We look for the impossible to validate a faith that does not make any sense.  We ask to see the impossible for ourselves, unwilling to take the words or testimony of others on this account.  It needs to be personal.  It needs to be tangible.  Or else, how could I believe?  And in this we destroy our journey-of-faith and wish for certainty in its place.  But be honest, how could you ever be certain, of the impossible?  Even if you witness a single incident of it, will one witness be enough to believe in all the others, and for the rest of your life?  So if you must witness more than one incident, how many will be enough?  All of them?  Would it really take time travel to finally make us believe that what is recorded in scripture was real?  If you are looking here, you are cheating yourself.  There is another venue, and something a lot more personal for each of us.

To begin, certainty is not the goal.  If I asked you to trust me, how would you go about it?  You might evaluate our interactions, our history together.  You might conclude that if my behavior was always in line with your expectations, that you could extend trust to me, and then see what happens.  But therein lies the catch.  No matter how I have behaved with you in the past, no matter how consistent our history may be, each time you extend trust to me, you take a risk.  If past is prologue, then you may believe the risk to be low.  But that “belief” is still a “belief” you hold about my trustworthiness, based on a myriad of factors, but none the less a “belief” that I will not let you down.  This is how trust works. 

You may trust your mom for example, because your mom has demonstrated that she loves you.  Even if she screws up, she still loves you, though her mistake proves her human.  You may even elect to extend trust to her again after a huge mistake, because there has been only one (or few you know about), and generally she does not make them.  But even with mom (mistakes or no), every time you extend trust, you hold a “belief” that it is worth it, to trust her.  Certainty is impossible.  Because you cannot absolutely predict what anyone else (including God) may do, or why they do it.  In the end, you have ideas about it, guesses about it, even educated guesses about it.  But behavior is a tricky thing to absolutely predict, and so people surprise us sometimes (for better or for worse).  To trust anyone, is to embrace “belief”, at the exclusion of absolute certainty.

But where God is concerned, it is more blame that goes around, than trust.  That has directly to do with our picture of “who or what” God is.  The media, our parents, our church, our friends, our professors, may have all played a role in forming an image in your mind about who God is.  Suffice it to say, it boils down to one of 2 main images.  Most folks think God is a version of Santa Clause.  We go to Him to ask for stuff.  We are happy when we get it.  Mad when we don’t.  But are generally quick to ruthlessly blame God for anything bad that happens, under the logic that Santa should have been watching and been able to prevent the bad stuff before it ever happened.  After all, He has done it for others, why not me?  Way too many Christians have this exact image of God, despite all the scriptures.  Most Atheists just don’t believe in any kind of Santa Clause, or any god, but if there were a God, He would be to blame for everything.

In the Santa Clause picture of God, no trust is required.  Neither is certainty.  If you get the stuff you asked for, hallelujah.  If not, it must not be in God’s time yet.  So Santa has a slot machine sort of response to what you ask for, the odds are low, but you never know.  How could faith ever grow in you, if this is the image of God you believe in, or have the most experience with?  And believe me, Satan is WAY too happy to keep this image of God in your mind.  Perhaps enough to grant you some of those wishes himself, in order for you to never shed this image of the God you pray to.  But our real God, needs us to trust Him.  That trust is a critical component of His ability to save us – from us.  Denying yourself to let some random God you don’t really know remake who you are, is just not likely.  Better to keep the Santa image, and just hope for the best.

So God’s problem is getting you to stop thinking of Him in terms of doling out rewards and punishments, and start thinking of Him for the Being He truly is.  The other image of God (a saving God).  God wants to save you, from you.  He loves you (being the primary and singular motive of His).  God sees sin as the punishment and the addictive disease.  And He has only one way to rid you of it.  But for that to work, you have to trust Him enough to let Him do it, in spite of how it looks.  Trust, in spite of common sense.  Trust, in spite of what everyone else tells you.  Trust, that He is able to do the impossible in you, where history demonstrates, you are clearly unable to do it.  So if that is His mission, and trust is what He needs from you.  Offering you certainty does nothing to accomplish it.  If you witness a 1,000 different acts of the impossible, all you will have learned is that it is possible for God to do the impossible.  You might have already imagined that.  But you will still have no reason to let Him reconstruct who you are.  A thousand elements of certainty do not build trust, they build resentment.  Back to the Santa Clause image – now that I have seen 1,000 impossible things – I intend to open complaints about why I did not benefit from any of them.  A thousand acts of love and impossibility for others, does me not one bit of good.  So now I am mad at Santa, because there was only coal in my stocking, while my neighbor got Barbie’s playhouse.

The first problem with asking for signs, is that it does not bring trust.  The second, is that it will only make you mad they were not for you, or selfish if they were (who does not want more miracles in their own lives).  And lastly they are usually requested as a condition of belief (instead of a result of it) doing nothing to foster trust, so there will never be enough of them, to really make a believer out of you.  You will either find a way to let your skepticism reduce the impossible, to a scientifically explainable trick (or perhaps a random set of circumstances that worked out just right despite the incredible odds, like say the hypothesis of evolution) - or you will find you have an insatiable appetite for more signs, at the cost of what you profess is a belief.  In any case, the mission God has to save you, from you, by remaking you fails because He grants your wishes for signs as a condition of belief.  A change in thinking, on the other hand, will pull back the veil that has blinded your eyes to the impossible.  What you witness after a change in how you perceive life, is going to be mind blowing.  Sounds crazy right now, but that’s the point.  It is crazy.  But it is also real.  And it will be a lot more personal to you than you could possibly imagine now.

Take as a case in point the story of two types of people in the gospel of Matthew the 27^th chapter.  Picking up in verse 38 it reads … “Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.”  You could argue these men might have been believers in the Jewish faith (though obviously not perfect observers of the Law).  It is not known exactly what they believed at least from Matthew’s account.  However we know from other versions of the good news, that one repented before he died, the other did not.  Dieing in the company of known criminals tends to make one look like a criminal even if this is not true.  This death will do nothing to uplift the reputation of Christ.  But Jesus does not care about His reputation.  In His trial all manner of lies were told about Him, and His response was perfect silence.  No condemnation, no calling people out on their sins, only silence.  But Jesus was eager to speak to anyone who seeks salvation.  When the dying theif seeks Jesus, Jesus responds, no matter what kind of physical pain He was in.  When that same theif was hurling insults at Him, Jesus remained silent.

Matthew continues in verse 39 saying … “And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, [verse 40] And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.”  Dying in the company of thieves, and up on a Roman cross, was decidedly NOT the sign the Jewish people were looking for where it comes to proving Jesus was God.  These were believers.  These were those who studied scriptures.  And yet their ideas about what God was supposed to do – that is, to throw off Roman oppression and setup a Kingdom that would last forever – overpowered all the other texts and prophecies that predicted exactly this part of the mission of God to save us.  “Believers” who desired something else of God, and refused to accept what God was actually doing to truly answer their prayers.  When Santa does not behave how we want Him to, what good is Santa right?  And so in this case, the very fact Jesus was actually fulfilling prophecy, was the very fact that disqualified Him as being the Messiah in their minds.  Sound familiar?

How often do we ask God for a thing, and threaten Him that if He does not do it, we will believe no longer?  Save me.  Save my child.  Save my spouse.  From the disease and death that stalk them.  If the results are not what we expect – we become angry and decide there cannot be a God – or else why did He not answer my prayer.  But perhaps He did, just not in the way you expected.  Perhaps from Gods point of view, saving you, your child, your spouse, for eternity is most important to all of you.  Should earthly life end today, and infinite life begin tomorrow, reunited, with infinite love in all of your hearts – is this not the preferred outcome all of you would want, even if it comes at the price of shortening how long you live in this world today?  Let’s say instead of focusing on the eternal, that God allowed you the answer to your prayers, and saved that life in the here and now.  As time passes, you, or your child, or your spouse, begin to change (not for the better).  Perhaps over time, one of you decides there is no God at all, and if there is, He is not worth following.  Sin is more “fun”, instead of the disease it truly is.  If that is how you meet your end in this world, and the eternal world is sacrificed in the process.  Did God really do what was in your best interest all those years ago when He saved you only to meet this new end?  And God knows what you will choose long before it happens.  Santa might let this play out.  But God would rather it didn’t.  God would prefer to cherish you while your free will choice reciprocates that love, rather than let you exist long enough to discard it under the weight of sin’s embrace.

So because God does not do what we want or expect, does not make Him any less trustworthy.  Keep in mind Jesus was doing what ALL of us need for salvation.  Not trying to prove Himself to nay-sayers at the time and place of His death.  Matthew continues in verse 41 saying … “Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, [verse 42] He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.”  And there we have it, the Athiest’s Anthem coming right out of the mouths of the very top leadership of the church at that time.  What image of God do you suppose they had, the one of a saving God who would die in our place, and fulfill prophecy – or the one of Santa who doles out punishment and reward emphasis on punishment.  And had Jesus descended off that cross in front of their eyes, gliding right down in front of them fully healed, what do you suppose their response would have been?  They would have hated Him all the more, because now Roman oppression still abounded, and Jesus would be impossible to kill after all.  Think about it, they already had ALL the previous miracles Jesus did to consider in weighing whether or not He was the Messiah, and NONE of them changed their course of action or belief.  They chose to dismiss every previous sign and still pursue killing Him.

And should Jesus have chosen to assuage His own ego, by proving to these priests He truly did have this power, what kind of God does that truly make Him?  A God of ego?  Who would gladly sacrifice our eternal considerations for those of the moment?  How could we be saved then?  It is often our expectations of what God should do, that could never be met anyway.  Because we come from a place of ego and selfishness, where God comes from a totally opposite perspective.  Jesus believes it is better to die to save all of us, than to do anything shortsighted, and gain nothing.  Jesus never used any of His power to benefit Himself.  Instead He used it unceasingly on us, the objects of His love, restoring us, removing the pain of sin and death from us.  Our restoration tops the mind of a saving God.  Not just getting rid our physical diseases, but getting rid of the way more deadly sinful disease of bad motives driving bad choices we continue to embrace.  Curing us of our desire to sin, is way more important.  Saving us from an eternal perspective way more important than saving us in the moment.

The ridicule continues as Matthew writes picking up in verse 43 saying … “He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. [verse 44] The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.”  Matthew hears the mockery of the thieves, but misses the repentance of the one.  Here we have an example of Jesus suffering the same fate as we do from time to time.  Jesus trusted in His Father.  And yet, He was dying, very painfully in this world.  The Father had NO interest in seeing His Son be tortured and die.  But the Father had a GREAT interest in seeing all of humanity be saved and reconciled unto Himself.  The death of His Son was that price.  In order that the need for Justice be satisfied.  So Jesus dies, in extreme pain we inflicted.  And the Father must sit there in silence and watch.  The eternal salvation outweighing the salvation of the moment.  This is how great our God desires to save us in the eternal realm, not just the here and now.  It is a different way of thinking.

So the repentant thief represents one kind of person, the mocking priests another.  For those mocking priests, no sign would ever be enough.  And frankly the next section of texts are going to have some doozies.  For the repentant thief however, for those of us who seek salvation from Jesus, what will happen in us is a change.  You will note that repentant theif was NOT saved from the cross.  He died in this world, but with certainty about his own place in the next one.  And change began to occur even in the worst dying circumstances any of us can imagine.  We too will become different than we are today.  Not because we work for it.  But because we begin to choose to trust Him, and allow Him to remake us however He sees fit.  Then change is surely on its way in us.  We read scripture differently.  We begin to see love as the primary motivation, instead of some wild afterthought.  We begin to reason differently.  And over time, the blinders of bad choices, the blinders of doubt, fall away – and what is revealed is a regular diatribe of the impossible happening all the time.  For example, the changing of hearts.  Not just of others, but of my own.  Learning how to love differently, and more deeply, than you had ever imagined.  No seminar could ever get this done.  But allowing Jesus full access sure does.  Without Jesus, things tend to degenerate.  But with Jesus, things tend to improve, especially in areas where it matters the most.

That sign, that impossibility, is very personal, very tangible, and you will live with its benefit every day of your life.  Does it cure your cancer?  No.  It could.  But it does not have to.  It fixes something more important.  The quality of your days expands exponentially, whether you are beset by physical pain and disease, or whether you are healed from them.  Keep in mind, disease does not exist in heaven.  So whether here or there, you are destined to see disease, pain and death no more.  And what happens to the desire to see a sign now?  You lose the selfishness part of that.  Instead of asking for goodies for yourself, you have no thought of yourself.  But you are swamped with thoughts of others.  You want to BE a sign for someone else, help them, meet their need if you can, no matter how you are feeling at the time.  And where you are powerless to meet their need, you do ask God for the impossible.  Not as a condition of belief, but because you are SURE He can, and will do what is right for that person’s eternal interest.  Where it comes to the removal of sin, 100% guarantee He wants that.  Where it comes to all the other worldly stuff, His gifts must fall in line with our salvation.  Knowing He longs to give them, and knowing He must hold them back, if they would add to our downfall.

Life, instead of existence, is a very tangible, and personal thing.  No one else can define it for you.  No one else can deny the impossible you are witness to in your heart and life.  For you know what is true for you.  You see what God does in your life.  What you suffer from in the eyes of others matters not.  Whether you are burdened with wealth, sickness, persecution – those do not represent the favor or curse of God.  They represent the danger of evil in this world, and are used by Satan to try to get people to believe in a Santa Clause image of God doling out rewards and punishments.  But for the one who truly believes, and chooses to truly trust, the curtain is pulled back – and the impossible is revealed every day no matter what our circumstances or positions may be.  Certainty has never been the goal.  Trust in spite of not knowing has always been it.  That kind of trust prevents the next Satan in the world to come.  And creates a new creature of you in the world we live in today.

 

Mis-Spent Power ...

We surround our ideas with the vacuum of space itself.  We insolate our opinions with a thick bubble of like-minded friends & followers and create distance between ourselves and those who may disagree.  There is no room for “different” to seep through.  In politics we think ourselves open-minded, but others see us a part of the fringe whether left or right.  Once viewed long enough this way, our gestures are anomalies that convince no one that we are as we view ourselves.  In our families, we are that “crazy uncle, or aunt” that everyone talks about but no one sees in the mirror.  No matter who we are, there is always a family member crazier than me.  And in church we have become the Pharisee or Sadducee we ridicule when we read their stories in the Bible.  We ask ourselves how they could have been so stupid, so stubborn, so wrong – and not have caught it.  We ask ourselves this, close the book, and fail to see us as we really are, through a different set of lenses, through a different perspective – because different has no entry door into who we are.

Case in point.  Matthew records a story of de-ja-vu.  It was only a few chapters ago in chapter twelve where the Pharisees and Sadducees (and us) came looking for Jesus to provide a sign to validate “who” He was and is.  The response offered was only the sign of Jonah.  The rebuke was that only an evil and adulterous generation goes looking for signs.  Ouch.  This was not a rebuke directed at the atheists or pagans of His day (though the logic still holds).  This was a rebuke directed at the church leadership of His day.  They, like us, had insolated their own opinions so well, that no sign of Jesus would have ever penetrated it to the point of a change of beliefs.  Now before you recoil at the idea of “us” being that stubborn, consider for a moment the denominational boundaries we embrace, and the wall it creates between ourselves and our fellow followers of Jesus Christ.  Name tags do more than differentiate us.  They create a “we are right” / “you are wrong” set of ideas where it comes to interpreting the Bible.  We all have the same set of facts, and same scriptural writings, but widely different views of what it means.

It is no different in life.  MSNBC, CNN, and Fox all report the same stories, but from widely different vantage points because they fundamentally hold widely different opinions about them.  An apple may be an apple, but it can be red or green, it can be small or large, it can be rotten full or worms and unfit to eat, or it can be a gorgeous work of perfection fit for baking in a pie like mom makes.  All of this, still looking at an apple, just from different viewpoints.  In church, we have decided exactly what the apple looks like.  Others of like mind join our spiritual social circle, and voila, a Christian church is born.  But Christian churches are not defined by their beliefs as much as they are by their differences of beliefs with other Christian churches.  Think about that.  Where we could have the Love of Christ so defining our lives, our actions, our responses, and our relationships that ALL our other beliefs are hardly even known – the opposite is true.  Our beliefs are known, our love isn’t.

Adventists are defined by their belief in keeping the Saturday Sabbath, the state of the dead, prophecy, and a trend towards vegetarianism if not an avoidance of unclean meats.  Mormons, who do believe strongly in our savior Jesus Christ, are defined by a history of multiple partner marriages, an entire world of beliefs about Jesus in the USA, and a widely different picture of the end of all things in heaven.  Catholics are defined by their Pope, by a history of persecution, by rituals of confession and communion and a preponderance of tradition still embracing Latin in traditional churches.  Baptists are defined by immersion of baptism, by traditions of hell and brim fire sermons, by forgiveness but in equal measures of condemnation for those who refuse to repent.  Here are four simple examples of large bodies of believers of Jesus Christ.  And instead of being known for the overpowering Love of Jesus Christ, in how we live, how we act, how we hold our familial relationships – we are known instead for the differences of our doctrines.  Would it not be better for others to see no distinguishable differences between us, because of the transformative power of Jesus in our lives, making us who He intended us to be, rather than clinging to the ideas we think important.

Instead what we do share, is a look towards heaven in our prayers, for God to take action, to solve problems … for ourselves and our families and those we love.  There is nothing wrong with praying for mom with the passionate love of her child.  It is simply where it comes to our enemies, or to those we hardly know, that passion nearly completely disappears.  We are lucky to “remember” to mention the prayer requests we hear in church, or are asked for on Facebook, or are asked for by friends at work.  We repeat the words, we might even muster a bit of concern, but then it’s done.  If it were us, or mom, or our child, our repetition would be often, and our passion high.  But for others, we are no stranger to “casual” in how we ask what we ask.  It is hard to manufacture feelings that simply are not there.  So in our private talks with God, we ask for a sign, for Him to validate “who” He is, by pouring out what we want in the lives of us and our families.  And if He has time left over, or blessing left over, perhaps He could answer some of these other requests we hear about as well.

The evil, and the adulterous, of our generation, are to be found in our mirrors – and this is not from a lack of belief in God (though some struggle).  It is not just from the sexual sins we wrestle with.  It is not just from our greed.  But it is instead a focus of our God’s attention forever on me first, then those I love, then those I can remember to ask for, then perhaps in a brief mention – my enemies.  We would mis-spend the power of our God, by reinforcing our own selfishness.  Something Jesus carefully avoided in the 40 days of temptation in the wilderness.  He would not spend His power on Himself.  He would not offer a sign to “prove” who He was.  He is God.  He does not need to prove it to anyone.  Pay better attention, and you will know exactly who He is.  For His love for you is hard to miss.  Back to the Case in Point from Matthew.

Matthew opens chapter sixteen of his gospel to the Hebrews in verse 1 saying … “The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven.”  When you see the word Pharisee or Sadducee, put your own name there.  Don’t read scripture as a history lesson, read it as an object lesson, not meant for your crazy uncle, or “other” people you know, but for you and only you.  Notice the word “tempting” Him.  This was not an earnest prayer spent on the behalf of someone else.  It was a temptation from Satan’s mouth, directed right out of the mouth of the church leadership of His day.  These were the folks who studied scripture night and day, who debated it, formed theories about it, and knew it better than anyone else.  They believed the Messiah would come to establish His Kingdom to reign forever and ever – the right belief, simply the wrong timing, the wrong visit.  Before that could happen, we would all need the blood of Lamb, to take away the sins of the world.  They knew those scriptures as well, and never believed for a minute they were becoming the vehicle of their fulfillment.

The best educated minds, the most devout, the church leaders bent of making sure Israel never broke the law again – got it wrong.  Because they insolated their opinions with so much ego, nothing new, nothing different, even the entirety of the Life of Christ, and the miracles He performed could not make a dent.  Jesus responds to this temptation picking up in verse 2 saying … “He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. [verse 3] And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? [verse 4] A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.”

De-ja-vu.  The same request from church leadership, gets the same response and rebuke.  Jesus does actually take the time to point out that their ability to look into the sky and generally predict or assess the weather is based on what they have seen in the past.  Jesus has already performed so many miracles – not the least of which is freeing the human character from its desire to sin.  And yet they disregard all of these signs of the times, in favor of something else, something bigger, something meant just for me and only me.  But it will not come.  Not for the Pharisees of old, or for me.  Asking God to mis-spend His power on me, would only reinforce the selfishness I already struggle with – selfishness He is trying to free me from.  He already loves me.  He is already meeting my needs.  Now a prayer with passion for the salvation of my enemies, for God to help me find a way to witness through the persecution and injustice they are happy to inflict, for a way to reach them – that is one God is happier to answer.  It helps my enemy most of all, and me incidentally in the process, teaching me where my love should be poured out - on the greatest need.

But the lesson was not over yet.  Matthew continues the story picking in verse 5 saying … “And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. [verse 6] Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.”  Take heed.  Beware.  Be aware.  These are not the admonitions of something casual.  They are weather warnings to avoid the storm on the horizon.  It was not only Pharisees who in history thought it wise to “add” to the law, or introduce the traditions of men as being equal to the law.  Many a church leader has done that since and does it still.  The history of the Catholic church it littered with examples, and a belief that even changing laws is permitted by a power they alone have been granted – though no evidence in scripture exists for this.  Even in the days of Matthew writing this gospel, power struggles within the new Christian church were beginning to emerge.  Churches already taking pride in who founded them, or what human messenger they followed.  Already the leadership of the Roman church believing they had a natural right to exert leadership on a broader scale.  And where there is a struggle for power, there is introduced the same leaven the Pharisees introduced.

But the disciples took this literally as Matthew records picking up in verse 7 saying … “And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. [verse 8] Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? [verse 9] Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? [verse 10] Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? [verse 11] How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? [verse 12] Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.”

Jesus reminds His own disciples that they just misinterpreted what He said.  They, His disciples, got it wrong.  These were not perfect men, and though they may be on a journey towards perfection, they had not arrived.  They still believed some wrong things.  Wrong like the same beliefs the Pharisees held that the Messiah would free Israel from Roman oppression.  And now wrong, that the leaven of the Pharisees somehow had anything to do with forgetting to bring bread to feed them all.  The facts you have on hand today are not always the reference point to be used in interpreting scripture.  A good deal of prophecy has been misinterpreted this way.  Sometimes there is something more in the message.  Sometimes what is meant has a more profound meaning.  The disciples finally got it that the leaven of the Pharisees was the doctrine of the Pharisees.  Church leadership got it wrong, making church leadership quite dangerous.

But here is where the vacuum of space we put around our ideas rears its ugly head once more.  The disciples never seemed to question themselves about “which” doctrines the Pharisees got wrong.  Nor did they follow up with Jesus about that topic.  They all still believed that Jesus would throw off the yoke of Roman oppression.  They believed it so strongly they were already making plans about who would do what in the next Jesus Administration.  They “wanted” to believe that.  They did not want to let that belief go, even if it was wrong.  That belief gave them hope.  But it was mis-directed hope. 

It would have been mis-spent power.  Jesus came to conquer evil, all of evil, all of sin – that victory was far more important.  For without that, I would be doomed to be who I am.  With the victory of Jesus, He is able to re-create me into who He wants me to be, freeing me from my slavery to self-love, and self-obsession.  As I surrender to His victory, I can be remade through the power of that transformative love.  And this transformation was not just reserved for me, it was intended specifically for you.  It will be a unique transformation for us both, because we are unique.  But our Jesus is the same, His love is the same, and the results of His recreation will be as He intends it to be, for each of us, and for both of us.  Why ever trade that for a simple victory over Romans in a particular time in earth’s history.

But the opinions of the disciples were insolated by a group of like-minded friends & followers (just as thick as social media offers today) and were so protected that their worlds would have to shatter to let the “new” in, the “different” in.  It would destroy what they all believed in this moment, to accept the Truth of what Jesus had to offer.  Church leadership can get it wrong.  Even when that is the Church leadership of old, or the person standing in the mirror.  How will we begin to allow the Truth to mold, reverse, and change our thinking?  Will it take a shattering of our world to accomplish this?  Are there beliefs we hold to so tightly because we do not want to let them go in favor of the Truth?  Are we so firm in our doctrines, that not even Love can break through?  It sure looks that way from an outside perspective sometimes.  To an outsider, we sure look a lot like that crazy uncle – not because we love like a banshee – but because of our crazy ideas are based in doctrines we refuse to even begin to consider could be wrong.  How sad our doctrines still out-shadow our Love instead of enhancing them.

 

Despite a Mountain of Evidence ...

The standard in the American Courtroom is simply … “beyond a reasonable doubt”.  But doubt is a tricky thing.  It is tough to shake in general.  But it is nearly impossible to shake if it comes from a pre-determined position.  If a juror or judge decides their opinion before they ever enter the courtroom, before any facts or context have been presented, before the first words are uttered; it is unlikely their mind will change throughout the trial, because they do not wish it to change.  This is why jurors are questioned before they are permitted to serve.  The ones with preconceived notions of their own must be eliminated so that a fair evaluation of the evidence can proceed.  To the extent that is possible, an open mind, is the asset both sides of any legal dispute are looking for.  It gives them both a chance.  It gives them both a shot to tell their story, present their evidence, and hope the weight of that evidence (or lack of it) will determine the outcome.

So, if the value of an open mind is well understood in a legal context, how could it be any less so in a spiritual one?  Our God did not create robots, or “yes” men.  He created us all with freedom to choose.  It is because love cannot be truly called love, unless it is a choice to love.  Instinct and hormones may give a mother an initial push to care for her child, but it will be her unfailing choice to love that child that is demonstrated time-after-time throughout that child’s life.  It will become so natural, that the expression “a mother’s love” becomes something all of us understand.  Nature may prompt, but ultimately it is mom who decides to love, often without regard to how a child responds to that love.  It is our choice to love our God then, that makes how we interact with him real love on our part, or the programmed response of a robot who ultimately does not know what love is.  Free will allows us to love freely.

And love is a two-way street.  As we have the choice to love our God, He has the choice to love us.  He does not have to love us, He chooses to love us.  And how do we know that He does?  This is the question that Satan has been whispering in the ears of mankind since He first insinuated it in the Garden of Eden to Eve.  If you eat this fruit you will become like God having the knowledge of good and of evil.  Implying that God does not want you to become like Him.  Implying that God does not love you enough to treat you like a peer.  Implying the love of God is selfish.  But the truth was that God loved us so much, He wanted to shield us from the firsthand knowledge of what evil was, how addictive it is, how unable would we be to break from its path of doom if ever we embraced it.  It was the love of God for us that governed in that situation, though Satan presented it as a question of God’s love.  And the whispering of this insinuation has not dimmed.

Within the church of our God, the question of God’s love arises in hardened preconceptions about things we know.  Conservatives for example, do not find the love of God in musical styles that do not agree with their tastes or offend them.  Messengers who dress poorly do represent God well in the mind of the conservative, instead they present a slovenly, lazy, or “dirty” image of our God.  Their words are drowned out by their image in the mind of the true conservative.  Likewise, the minds of our youth are not penetrated by the monotone voices of conservative preachers who drone on about the do’s and don’ts of obedience to God, and the importance of it.  Messengers dressed in the three-piece suits are sinners in nothing more than a façade.  Hymns and classical aria’s do nothing to inspire the youth.  They consider them boring and pretentious.  Youth prefer repetitive beats and simple lyrics.  Thus, the elders and the next generation clash over worship style, the relevance of dress, and the music that lifts them up to God.  Neither can give an inch, because both are set in their ways, age having inspired those ways, but age no barrier to them.

You may think I describe the 20^th century Christian Church in America.  But the condition did not arise here, it only remains here.  Matthew in his gospel chapter eleven, records the words of Jesus outlining the same problems back then in the church He created with Abraham and then with Moses in the deserts of the Sinai.  Matthew records the words of Jesus picking up in verse 16 saying … “But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, [verse 17] And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented.”  There was a group in the church Jesus tried to reach out to by identifying with them, by joining with them in celebration, looking to dance when the happy songs are played.  But this group was unresponsive to the outreach.  There was also a group in the church that was very formal, very sullen; a group who praised the near funeral like atmosphere that lamented sin, and longed for a return to the righteousness of the olden days.  To this group as well, our God made outreach.  But to no avail.

Jesus outlines their responses in verse 18 saying … “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. [verse 19] The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.”  The simple fact is, that while our ideas of worship may be distorted by our age, our preferences, and our ideas of superiority over other groups – our God’s love for us remains.  So our God reaches out to us in any form He hopes will work.  John the Baptist was the traditionalist’s traditionalist.  He was a Nazarite.  He did not cut his hair.  He ate super kosher.  He kept the Sabbath in the traditional way.  He went to Passover.  He did what any good traditional Jew was supposed to do.  And on top of all of that He preached of repentance, prophesied of the Messiah, and offered Baptism in the river Jordan to the people.  What more could he have done.  How more could he have honored the traditions of the church?  And still those with preconceived notions about who was in control of the church (or should be), and what holiness is (or should be) rejected John and his piercing call to repent for the sins they knew they committed.

Jesus, was the opposite.  Jesus ate the foods offered to Him.  He went to wedding feasts.  He celebrated.  He ate and drank with the sinners He came to save, not making a distinction between holy and unholy, welcoming all men and women into His presence.  Jesus proved that God loved more than the traditionalists, He loves all of us.  His behavior stands as a mountain of evidence of the love of God for all of mankind, not just to those who think they have earned it by the manner and method of their particular church attendance.  Yet despite the celebrations of Jesus with the common people.  He found rejection there as well.  Once again, the preconceived ideas of the jurors not to believe, swayed the outcome of their verdicts before the trial was far from over.  The old ideas of worship shut out the Messiah, claiming they originated from the devil.  And the new ideas of worship did also shut out the Messiah, equally convinced Jesus was too good to be true.  Despite a mountain of evidence of the love of God, that God would ignore neither branch of His church, but try so hard to reach both of them – the jurors had already decided the fate of this question, and wrote the love of God off, discarded His outreach, as the work of the devil.  And how often do we still hear that result pronounced in our churches today?

But for those of an open mind, the results would be different.  Jesus begins then to teach BOTH segments of His church, what others would have done when presented with the same set of facts they had witnessed in their lifetimes.  Jesus continues in verse 20 saying … “Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: [verse 21] Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.”  This one will stick in the craw of any good Jew.  Two Samaritan cities in the north of the ten tribes, located in Lebanon today, would have repented in sackcloth and ashes; as opposed to two Jewish cities located in the heart of the nation, constantly exposed to Jesus as He travels, who continue in their living as if the Son of God had never graced their borders, taught in their synagogues, healed their entire population of sick and diseased people, and fed their residents through miraculous means.  What the heathen or the gentile or the dreaded Samaritan would do with this evidence is so much more responsive than what the Jew will do with it.  That stings.

And has anything changed in Christianity today some 2000 years later.  Lives that are truly changed by Jesus are the ones we, the church, ridicule most fervently.  The prostitute who finds Jesus and begins a ministry for other prostitutes, we condemn as being some sort of sham.  The drug addict on the verge of suicide, with the needle still hanging from his arm of collapsed veins and track marks too numerous to count; when he finds Jesus, gets clean, and opens a ministry for those desperate in the streets – our only response is to give a meager offering, never to commit our time because it is dangerous down there.  The music either of them prefer, though performed by Christians with their own ministry, dare not degrade our churches by entering their doors.  That music is “of the devil”.  And we repent not.  And we echo the church of the day of Christ, right down to an echo of the exact same thing they said in His day.

And what does Jesus say to the offended Jew, or you and I, He continues in verse 22 saying … “But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.”  OUCH!  For those of you church members obsessed with a coming judgment by an angry God – there will be more tolerance for Tyre and Sidon than for 2 cities tucked right in to the heart of the nation.  For in the heart of the church, was found unrepentant hearts, blaming everything on having devils, and doing nothing to actually repent and love.  This rebuke stands today against those in our day still obsessed with judgment, instead of melted with repentance, and given to love of others (even when it offends your sense of style, or sits outside the genre of music you prefer).  Ascribing everything you do not like as being of the devil, even though those who are blessed by it are clearly searching for Christ, should have been your first clue you were wrong and echoing the critique of those who rejected our Messiah some 2000 years ago.

Jesus continues and ups the ante in verse 23 saying … “And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. [verse 24] But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.”  Yikes!  Capernaum was not just a random Jewish city, it was where Peter lived, and sort of a base of operations when Jesus was in the region.  Many miracles of God’s love were performed there.  The mountain of evidence was overwhelming.  No stone had been left unturned.  No outreach that could have been offered, remained unoffered.  As for evangelism, there was no greater benefactor than Capernaum – thus exalted unto heaven itself.  But all the outreach in the world cannot force the human heart to love.  For if it was forced it would not be considered love at all.

And who do we compare the city who is exalted unto heaven with; Jesus compares it with Sodom.  The city where anal sex established its name sake – sodomy or the sodomite.  But it was for far more than its proclivity for gay sex that Sodom was judged.  The city was full of rape, of murder, of robbery, of injustice.  Sodom saw no Jesus in it’s walls.  It saw no healings of the body or of the soul.  It had become a city of evil people so steeped in the evil they embraced that only death would be a kind release.  But if Sodom had borne witness to the Messiah who was speaking these words; that city would have been released from the evil that held it prisoner.  That city would have repented down to every single resident.  That city would have embraced the hope of the Messiah who was still speaking, and held tightly to the hope He offers us all.  And that city would have stood from the days of Abraham to the days of the Lord who reveals this truth.  For those obsessed with judgment the unrepentant Sodom will be shown more tolerance, than the unrepentant Jew who can see Jesus, who can talk to Him, and still rejects the Truth standing right in front of them.

The modern Christian remains not too happy with this comparison.  The modern Christian who remains obsessed with judgment generally grows a hatred of all things gay, and a speech to match that hatred.  They are quick to condemn a sin that afflicts only a minority of people, something they do not understand, something they are ill equipped to minister to; and then develop a sense of superiority because they do not suffer from it.  All the while, their own heart remains un-repentant for the sins they do suffer from.  Instead of putting all in need of Christ on a level playing field, a pecking order is setup in the sinner’s heart whereby his own sins are never as bad as his neighbor’s sins.  It is relative salvation-ism.  It is based on a lie whose first priority is to avoid embracing repentance for all sin.  And in irony of ironies, Jesus expressly states that the judgment of the city of gay sex will be more tolerable than the judgment of those who should know, but refuse to know, the freedom that comes from repentance.  The freedom that comes from embrace the Messiah, in the form of Jesus Christ.  This stinging rebuke is aimed squarely at the Church of Christ in our day, not just the listeners back then.

But the question remains, how can we know that God loves us?  The answer is the life of Jesus Christ.  Read the stories of Jesus, recall the words of Jesus, review the deeds of Jesus.  Without regard to person, or wealth, or status, or nationality, or sexual preference, or incorrect belief system; Jesus heals all, loves all, and calls all to Him to find the freedom only He can re-create within you.  It is a mountain of evidence as tall as Everest or as historic as Sinai.  For you to disregard it, or ignore it, or doubt it; reflects a choice you have already made to do so.  But if you will open your mind and heart just a little; if you will but entertain the possibility of God’s love just a little – you will be overwhelmed with what you find.  For there is no limit to the love of God, not just generically, but specifically for you.  The love God carries for you is so great, that even if the entire rest of the world rejected Him, He would have come and died to save you.  How do I know?  The entire world rejected God in the time of the Flood, but Noah did not, and Noah was saved (and Noah was no perfect man).  The entire city of Sodom rejected God in the time of Abraham, but Lot did not, and Lot was saved (and Lot was no perfect man).  The Bible is full of examples of those who embraced God and were saved because of it.  God loves you just as much.  God wants to save you just as much.  Open the mind just a little to that possibility, and that mountain of evidence will come pouring in over you in ways you cannot imagine.

 

Belief Underlies It All ...

God can do anything, or He can’t.  There is no middle ground.  Jesus is God, or He is not; again there is no middle ground.  Ultimately one thing will make the distinction about your life, and that is the belief you have one way or the other.  Your own belief will not change facts, but it can change them for you.  What you believe may start with a great degree of uncertainty, but it will not remain in that state.  Over time belief begins to solidify.  You will recognize events that occur (or don’t) that will strengthen and harden the position you have chosen to take; i.e. to believe or not to believe, as for you, that is the only question that matters.  The choice is a grave one, and the path it leads to is graver still, for the consequences impact the entirety of your life, not just the end of it, or its disposition post death.  Salvation is not just about determining your place in the afterlife, it is about determining how great a life you can have in the here and now.

Peter recalled an event that tested the importance of belief, the question he and the others faced, was no different than the one you and I face today.  As a part of the gospel of Jesus, he thought it important that you and I could benefit from the events that transpired, so we have a record of it, as John Mark transcribes in his gospel, in chapter nine, and picking up in verse 14 saying … “And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them.”  It is important to understand the context for this event as in the context we find the problem.  Jesus is approaching His disciples, in the midst of a great multitude of people.  In times past when the phrase “great multitude” was used in this gospel we had 5,000 men, then 4,000 men (plus women and children) as an indicator of how big a crowd this might have been.  The scribes were part of the ruling-class conspiracy to kill Christ, they could better be described as lawyers, who used scripture (which they spent hours transcribing) to prove any theory the Sanhedrin wanted proven.  When directly confronting Jesus, they had been humiliated with zero success, but once again they had decided to confront His disciples.  The disciples had little scriptural education and would be far easier prey, and they were.

What later texts will also reveal in this study, is that as a part of their challenge to the disciples, was the request to cast out a demon from a young man brought to them for this purpose.  The disciples had failed at it.  So the scribes were challenging the identity of Christ mis-using scriptures to prove their point, and the disciples were failing to cast out a demon, in effect proving their own belief in the identity of Jesus was being shaken by what the scribes were saying.  Keep in mind, ALL of this theatre, was being done in the sight and hearing of yet another “great multitude” of onlookers.  To this point, the plan of the scribes and of the Sanhedrin, and the wider conspiracy against Jesus was indeed working. 

John Mark continues recording in verse 15 saying … “And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him.”  Jesus was returning to His disciples, He had likely been alone again praying and fasting in the mountains that He did nearly every night.  Jesus was in close contact with His Father, who sent Him to correct this problem.  His face still glowed.  When the people saw it, they were amazed.  The scribes would recall that Moses glowed too, when He came down from Sinai, as Jesus does now.  The people knew that story.  When they see it, they salute Jesus, or show a sign of deference to His presence, perhaps bowing, or nodding their heads in respect.  Already the situation is turning away from what the scribes were intending to accomplish.

John Mark continues in verse 16 saying … “And he asked the scribes, What question ye with them? [verse 17] And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;”  The subtlety here is important.  Jesus asks the scribes to know what questions they have been asking His disciples.  He is clearly prepared to answer them.  The scribes know it.  They know that if they pose these questions to Jesus, He will humiliate them once again with the truth, the same way He has done in the past.  So they are silent against His query.  Since they are not speaking up, the father of the possessed young man speaks up.  This father is not there to show that Jesus is not real, He is there only to see his own son be healed.  He had hoped for healing already, but the failure of the disciples was fresh in his mind and heart.  If the disciples could not heal in the name of this man, why should any believe?  Is it any different in our day?  If the lives of Christians look just like the lives of those who do not believe, is there any reason for others to seek a better life, knowing His own disciples have not found one yet?

The Father continues describing his problem in verse 18 saying … “And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.”  This demon is actively destroying the life of this man’s son.  The demon cuts him, makes him foam at the mouth and gnash his teeth.  The demon throws him down involuntarily.  The demon, it would seem, has proven his own identity as a supernatural force in league with Satan.  The demon is real.  But your disciples, after listening to the questions of the lawyers and scribes, have fallen short.  The disciples were unable to answer the scriptures word for word, and text for text.  That, after all, was not the training they were receiving from Jesus.  Jesus did not spend countless hours with them teaching them to be scribes, or for that matter Pharisees.  Jesus spent all that time teaching them what it means to love others.  In that quest, He hoped to make them experts.  Jesus hoped to make the faith of His own disciples unshakeable because of how He loved.  Scriptures would always prove the truth Jesus already knew.  But a physical demonstration of love was supposed to have meant more, and offered more to them, and despite everything, it did not.  Belief had been shaken by a twisting of the word.

Jesus is dismayed by what He sees.  He has proven the truth from scripture many times, and yet it seems to be forgotten on this day.  He has proven His identity many time in the miracles of the love of the Father God for those here on earth, yet it has been forgotten on this day.  He responds in verse 19 saying … “He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.”  There is enough evidence based on the teachings, and actions of Jesus for this Father to know who he was dealing with.  Yet his own faith and belief is nearly gone.  If even in the presence of Christ, and with Him there in person, people refuse to believe, how will they believe later when He is gone, when He has returned to heaven.  Like in our day.  But despite the frustration of Christ, there is still one in need.  So Jesus asks that the demon possessed young man be brought to Him.

John Mark records the events in verse 20 saying … “And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.”  This demon did not ask for mercy, or loosen the tongue of this boy to say anything.  The demon was intent on showing his own power and staying put right where he was.  The demon intended to maintain the people’s belief in his own identity and cause doubt in the identity of Christ.  Jesus asks the father more about the boy in verse 21 saying … “And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. [verse 22] And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.”  The father explains this condition occurred when the young man was just a child.  He explains that the demon has tried a few times to kill the son by throwing him into fire or water.  Then the father poses a question to Jesus saying … “if” thou canst do anything … have compassion on us and help us.  The father is not at all certain Jesus is capable.  The father is not at all certain of who Jesus is.  The father knows the demon is real, but not Christ.

Keep in mind this is all continuing to play out in front of a great multitude of people.  So Jesus addresses the core problem that has taken hold at this event, not only for the father’s sake, but for all who are listening, and all who are reading this story as it continues in verse 23 saying … “Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.”  First and once again, you will note Jesus does not ask for belief from the demon possessed boy; at this point, the boy is incapable of true belief.  How many drug addicted children fall into this category?  How many mentally ill people fall into it?  How many drunks, and how many addicted to sin, and need healing fall in there as well?  Jesus asks for faith from the father, not the son.  If the father believes, the son can be saved.  If the disciples had not had their faith in the identity of Christ shaken by the scribes twisting the scriptures they too might have been successful.  If we, the modern disciples of Christ, were not so uncertain in our own belief, what might we accomplish? 

Next notice the promise of Jesus, He does not say that those who believe can do “some” things, “sometimes”, in some limited fashion.  He promises the believer that ALL things are possible to him that believeth.  No restrictions, no limitations, no small quantities or limited revelations, but literally ALL things possible.  God is either God or He is not.  Jesus either speaks the truth or He does not.  Have we gotten so comfortable in our lack of testing our own belief and His power, that we dare not even ask any more in our prayers, lest the lack of faith we have be publicly displayed?  If we believe, why do we not do more with it?  How can we sit still knowing we can make a difference, yet do nothing?  Under the model of this story, a believing parent could pray for a child, and see that child’s life find Jesus and turn around, no matter the hold of drugs, or alcohol, or sin of any kind.  Not even full on demon possession is a match for belief in Christ, and a simple prayer in His name. 

The father sees in himself what too many of us fail to see in ourselves.  The father responds in verse 24 saying … “And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”  Even our unbelief can be restored by Jesus Christ if we simply submit our will to His.  It is in this that Christ is both author and finisher of our faith itself.  This father has made the choice to believe, but he also knows that to save his son, he will need so much more belief that what he has.  So he cried out to Jesus in tears with a recognition of how great the task is to save anyone, to help his own unbelief.  That is us folks.  To save us will be a monumental task, we are addicted to sin, full of doubt, and slave to loving only ourselves.  To save us will be a huge undertaking at which we have failed repeatedly.  Only Jesus can do for us, what we will never be able to do for us, to bring our motives in line with His and His Fathers.  Our salvation is not just about having the self-will to restrict our actions, it is about having our motives overcome the need for restrictive self-will.

Having begun the salvation of the father, Jesus now turns His attention to the son as the story continues in verse 25 saying … “When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. [verse 26] And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.”  The people came to see what would happen now, as the disciples had only failed recently, and they wondered if Jesus could do what they could not.  Jesus calls out the evil spirit and tells him he can never re-enter this young man.  Our salvation is not just a temporary thing, when we submit to Jesus He can change our desires and our lives forever.  The demon has no choice but to comply.  He cuts the young man once more, and leaves him.  The trauma of demon has left the young man nearly lifeless, it appears so bad that the observers begin to think he is dead.  But Jesus knows better.

Events continue in verse 27 saying … “But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.”  What the world thinks is dead, is alive in the hands of Christ.  Our old lives may pass away, and it is what we will want when once we have been transformed by Jesus, but our new lives in Christ are possible when He takes our hand in His.  Imagine the gratitude of the father when now his son is healed.  Imagine the shame of the scribes when now their plans have failed again in front of the great multitude.  Imagine the chagrin of the disciples as they realize they failed at something Jesus could do.  They needed an answer about this as verse 28 continues saying … “And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? [verse 29] And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.”  Jesus had likely just come from His nightly routine of praying and fasting with His Father.  He knew the disciples would face tougher foes in the supernatural world, and He wishes for them to see the value and know the strength that comes from seeking the presence of God the Father even above the physical needs our bodies have.

Belief underpins the entire process of our salvation.  We choose to believe in something greater than ourselves when we accept the idea that a God could exist.  We choose to believe that if a God exists He must surely be one of love that longs to restore His proximity and relationship with us.  We choose to believe that if we are ever to be made pure and in alignment with a love like His, it must be by His power through the transforming love of Jesus Christ.  We choose to believe that even though we have failed at changing ourselves, He will succeed where we have failed.  We choose to have Him help, even our doubts and lingering unbelief.  And ultimately He does what He has promised and saves us beyond all doubt.  When our belief is established there is nothing we cannot do through His power.  Are we willing to test this promise? …