September 17, 2008
Doubting. . . Derek?
by Derek Hanisch, RTF Staff Writer
Faith. We here about it a lot. What exactly is faith? If we look at Hebrews 11:1 we can see a definition of faith: “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” There’s a tricky word in there, though. Certain. The Bible tells us that if we have faith we are certain in what we cannot see.
Does that mean that we can’t doubt? I had a youth pastor tell one of my friends that he wasn’t a Christian because he was having questions about his faith. It made me sick to my stomach. We can see examples in the Bible of those around Jesus who doubted.
One of these such people was Thomas. He was a follower of Christ, and when he heard that Jesus had risen from the dead he made the statement that he would only believe this to be true if he could feel the nail holes in Jesus’ hand. He had a lack of faith. When Thomas finally saw Jesus he felt the nail holes. Did Jesus smite him down for not believing? No!
Another great example is Peter. Jesus predicted that Peter would deny Jesus three times. He predicted this lapse of faith. Since Jesus was perfect his prediction came through, and Peter denied Christ. He was afraid to be called a follower of Christ. He didn’t have Faith. Jesus still loved Peter, and Peter ended up doing amazing works in the name of Christ.
I want to share my favorite story in the Bible. I’m going to paraphrase it, but you can find the Scripture in Mark chapter nine, verses 14-29.
Jesus, James, Peter, and Paul went off alone for a bit. When they join the rest of the disciples Jesus sees a large crowd. He goes to find out what’s up. It seems that this man brought his son to get help. His son was possessed by demons, so the disciples went to cast them out. They couldn’t. When the Man sees Jesus he runs up to him and asks if Jesus can help. Jesus has a powerful reply: “What do you mean, ‘If I can?’ Anything is possible if a person believes.” That’s a powerful verse in it’s own right, but I find the next verse just amazing. The father instantly cries out: “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”
I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief. The boy’s father says that he believes, but then he adds on to that statement. He asks for help in overcoming his unbelief. Which means that there was some doubt that Jesus would help. Those words were enough to get Jesus to act, and he cast the demons out of the boy.
Don’t ever believe the lies that doubt is inherently bad. No one will ever be 100% sure about anything, faith will waver. Just know that even when your faith isn’t as strong as you’d like, God is still standing there with open arms ready to welcome his child home.
Derek is our newest RTF staff writer. Derek Hanisch is tough. When he was 17 he fought the battle of cancer, and won. Now he attends a small little school that resides in one of Iowa’s many cornfields, surrounded by corn and cows. He plans on majoring in Social Work and becoming a parole officer for youth. You can connect with him on Facebook: Derek Hanisch.
Judi says:
You’re an awesome writer.
-Judi
Catey Yuen says:
Great devo. I’m glad you’ll be writing with Real Teen Faith!
-Catey (a fellow RTF writer)