Daily Devotion April 5, 2014 Mark 9:24 “Immediately the father of the child cried out, ‘I believe; help my unbelief!”’ This is the cry of an anguished father. He has brought his afflicted son to the group that he believed could help him and all they could do was argue among themselves because the disciples could not help the boy. I often wonder just how the father felt and then I remember something that happened with our oldest child a long time ago. Our daughter had a fever and pain in parts of her body. We took her to the doctor who ran all sorts of tests and could not determine the cause of her ailments. She eventually got better but our consternation at the time was great. There are many things that can cause us to cry out like the father in today’s story from Mark, illness, fear, uncertainty, and disillusionment with just about anything that we are involved in. These things can hit us like a runaway freight train. I wrote the other day about our need to not just sit around while others did the work of the Kingdom. A friend of mine responded with great disillusionment with the “church” while at the same time expressing her love for the “church”. I often wonder if the cry of unbelief is not more deeply uttered when it is in connection with the Body of Christ. I wonder why and how a religion that was supposed to be a way of life, as I read The Book, has become one of rigid doctrine and unbending rules. I wonder how a Body whose foundation is self-sacrificing love, 1st Corinthians 13, has become one of; I must be right because you are wrong. But these are not new things; they have been around for over 2000 years. “I believe; help my unbelief!” Paul says that we are nothing more than “a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” without love, agape. William Barclay in his book, New Testament Words, says this about agape. “This agape, this Christian love, is not merely an emotional experience which comes to us unbidden and unsought; it is the deliberate principle of the mind, and a deliberate conquest and achievement of the will. It is in fact the power to love the unlovable, to love people whom we do not like.” Jesus says to deny ourselves, take up our cross, turn the other cheek, forgive 70 times 7, and John the Baptizer said that he had to fade away so that Jesus could be prominent. And yet we still fight, we still want to be in control, we still want to be right, we are still jealous, we want everyone to think, act, and believe like we do. Barclay also says that the “meaning of this agape” comes from Mark when we are told to love our enemies. “Why? In order that we should be like God.” Barclay reminds us that God always desires the greatest good for all of God’s creation, saint and sinner alike. I struggled with this today, a lot. Maybe because it hits so close to home, maybe because I’ve been there and maybe because I really don’t want to be there again. Barclay also reminds us that “…agape…is bound to be a product of the Spirit.” Read Galatians 5: 19-23, then you will know where you are and what you might need to change. “I believe; help my unbelief!” Peace, Fr. Reid
Posted on: Sat, 05 Apr 2014 16:47:05 +0000
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