Skip to main content

The Surprising Benefit of Hanging Around

                “I do believe!  Help my unbelief!”  (Mark 9:24)
                Those words, spoken to Jesus by a man who wanted his son to be healed, are some of the most universally understood words in the entire Bible.  We want to believe but doubts and fears creep in and derail us. 
                What if you were Jesus?  How would you help this man deepen his faith?  If you were like most churches, you would have given this man a book to read, a mentor to visit with or a seminar to attend.  Churches love programs! 
                But what if we change the picture from spiritual things to Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone National Park?  What if you doubt that the geyser erupts approximately every 65 minutes?
                You could read a book about Old Faithful.  You could have a scientist explain the geology and why it works the way it does.   The best way to build your faith, though, would be to go to Yellowstone and spend a few hours watching what the geyser does.  If you hung around long enough, your disbelief would go away because you would experience it for yourself.
                When Jesus called his first group of followers, what did he do?  He did not put them in a classroom or give them a lecture.  Rather, he said, “Come follow me!” (Mark 1:17)  Jesus knew that if people walked with him day after day and watched what he did, their faith would grow.
                The early church had a word to describe this sort of hanging around.  They called it “devotion”.  “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42).  They hung around the things of God and that caused something to happen.  It always does.
                At the start of this article, the father’s faith caused him to come to Jesus.  Doing so brought about the healing of his son and the erasing of his doubts as well.
                Faith grows when we hang around with God.  When we read and pray and give him some time and space to work, we start to see and believe. 
                Why not give it a try?  You are welcome to hang around here anytime.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dark and Light

            When you look out at the world, what do you see?             Some see nothing but trouble and pain.   They point to things like poverty, crime, problems with drugs and alcohol and marriage break-ups and say that the world is full of sadness and sorrow.   Watch the news for even a half hour and you will get the idea that the world is a dark place.             Others see nothing but good.   They appreciate generous people in their community.   They think about their friends and neighbours and smile.   They marvel at the beauty of sunrises and stars at night.   To them, the world is a bright and wonderful place.             You may be surprised that the Bible supports both of these world views.   On one hand it says things like, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the
1 comment
Read more

New Article: Five Words to Improve Your Relationships

                 In the late 1800s, it was common for railway companies to plant formal gardens beside their stations.   These gardens were filled with trees, shrubs, flowers, and fruit trees.   Sometimes they also featured a kitchen garden growing lettuce, carrots, corn, and potatoes.   Estevan’s Canadian Pacific Railway Garden was once located where Mid-City Plumbing and Heating is today.                The purpose of these gardens was to show what the land could produce.   After hours and sometimes days of riding across the featureless prairies, the railways wanted to show settlers the potential of their new home.   The gardens showed what was possible and they encouraged the settlers to transform their own land and discover its potential too.                Today’s verse acts similarly, in that it challenges us to find the potential in
Post a Comment
Read more

Forgetting What Is Behind

                   Generalizations are helpful because they show a pattern that is normally true. However, they are also dangerous because they ignore the exceptions to the rule.                  Here is my generalization:   It is a quality of the strong to be able to forget the past and move on.   The apostle Paul summarizes this idea when he states, “One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God had called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). Too often, we trip over things that are behind us.   We remember and nurse old hurts.   We rehearse mistakes that no one else recalls.   In doing so, we pull the past into the present and allow it to dictate how we feel right now.   In these cases, we would be better off “forgett
Post a Comment
Read more