Unbelieving

WTW 2022
29 May
Unbelieving

Faithlessness
Fear, Worry & Doubt

Today we may call it being negative.
It can come from fear, worry and doubt.

JESUS calls it faithlessness, unbelieving.
And this was the active opposite of that faith which is such a keystone of His ministry.

We recognize what JESUS calls out as lack of faith, and we can understand some of the resulting characteristics as fear, worry and doubt. Common as they may be, these are bad enough but listening closely to JESUS, it is clear that He goes even deeper. As always, JESUS points right to the heart of things. What we may simply refer to as people being negative, we could perhaps even recognize as fear, worry and doubt. We would generally identify each of these incidents as people being generally negative. A better assessment would have us recognize them as coming from fear, worry and doubt. And each of these is dangerous enough.

However, JESUS goes for the juggler of these enemies of truth and pinpoints the root resident in human hearts: faithlessness, rather unbelieving. He points not so much to lack of faith or presence of fear, doubt and worry but actually to a littleness of faith, a smallness of faith working in people’s hearts, minds and lives as well as an active unbelief. What He points to is less a matter of negative outlook, and not even a matter of lacking something like faith but actually a dangerous active function in people driving us to live in faithless ways. That is to say, these encounters show the contrast between JESUS powerful action from faith and the people’s actions from faithlessness, little faith and unbelieving.

“Stop unbelieving!”
John 20:27

It is like our language does not even have the right words to express what He expresses. We call it a lack of faith as an absence, a passive void, something missing. He calls it out as itself an active faithlessness, little faith and unbelieving. Our nature acts in advancing things which come from faithlessness. His nature advances things which come from faith. Our fallen nature not only lacks His active faith but actually works to advance faithlessness and those things which come from faithlessness. It is merely the evidence of this faithlessness, this unbelieving, which shows up as lack of faith, doubt, worry and fear.

Also, as opposed to common modern doctrinal positions like Calvinism or end times views, faith and lack of faith were much more the focus of JESUS ministry and message. We too should be focused much more on prayer, faith and doing the work of our Heavenly Father rather than on these other arguments. Let us draw living water from the WORD of life in these passages.

LORD, we believe. Help our unbelief. Remove our faithlessness, our unbelieving. Thank you for giving us Your faith. Help us walk in the power of Your Spirit by this same faith which You have placed in our hearts, now working in us even as You show us in everything You do.

Oligopistoi
little faith

Matthew
6:30 – daily cares
8:26 – lake storm
14:31 – water walker
16:8 – Pharisee yeast
17:20 – possessed boy

Luke 12:28 – daily cares

Apistos
Unbelieving

Matthew 17:17 – possessed boy
Mark 9:19 – possessed boy
Luke 9:41 – possessed boy
Luke 12:46 – apistos atheists
John 20:27 – stop apistos