Mark 9:24
Belief and Unbelief
24 “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
Romans 5:8
God LOVES us, Even Though We Sin
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Can faith and doubt coexist?...Is there any man with complete faith, with no doubts?...And maybe another question we might ask, is do we need doubt to have faith?...
I think most believers can relate to doubt and uncertainty...Some of our great believers had doubt...Abraham and Sarah, must have had some doubt, when they decided to use their maidservant Hagar to have a child...But they had still had faith and believed in God...God had told them they would have a child, but they decided to have a child with Hagar...This child became the firstborn son of Abraham...Gideon doubted God with the test of the wet wool (Judges 6:37)...But Gideon had faith...I think many of the disciples had doubts about Jesus, but He remained loyal to them...The most doubting disciple, is maybe Thomas, called Doubting Thomas...Thomas, even after the other disciples explained the resurrection of Jesus to him, he still doubted...Yet, these disciples had faith in Jesus and what He could do...
In the verse above, it seems we can believe and still have some unbelief...I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief...Some uncertainty seems to be a part of man...I think, this is why Jesus said My God, My God why have you forsaken Me (Matthew 27:46)...God is giving His Son the sins of this world (when He said this), and for a Godly instant, maybe Jesus is man, because of sin...He felt all of man's sin...He has taken on our sins on the cross and dies on the cross for our sins...Sin doubts...Sin causes uncertainty...Sin separates man (and maybe Jesus at that very instant) from God...Jesus, who never sinned, never doubted God...We are the ones who made Jesus question God...It was our sins that caused this and His question...The man part doubts...The sin in us, makes us doubt...
God wants us to trust Him...He trusts Himself, so we should too...We should trust in the LORD...It is the evil one wanting us to sin, doubt, and not trust...Sin is a sad part of our lives, but it is there (in our lives)...We must realize that we do sin..."All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)...When we sin we must ask God for forgiveness...We need to confess our sins...The quicker we can repent and ask God for His forgiveness, the better it is for us...
St. Paul tells us that God shows His love for us, because while we were still sinners, God sent His Son to die for us...If we are sinners and believe in Him, Jesus is there to save us...We must understand that others of great faith had some doubt...We must be alert and on guard for our doubts and push through them...We must repent and as for forgiveness...Pray to Jesus about your doubts...Ask Him for help like the one in Mark asks, I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief...