Help My Unbelief

Mar 27, 2023

If I asked you how you’re doing today, how would you respond?

Busy? Tired? Overworked? Overcommitted? These tend to be the average answers from people I ask, no matter if they’re 12 or 72.

I feel an overwhelming awareness of time the older I get.

I’m reminded that minutes don’t feel longer, they’re shorter. Last week feels like last month, last month feels like last year, and last year might as well be in a history book. Why do we feel this way? Well, I think we aren’t that great at judging the cost behind our commitments and find ourselves living in a debt to ourselves of time and energy.

Take it a step further and we discover that spiritually you and I probably feel, at some level, a longing for the spiritual depth we know exists below the surface, as well as a desire to know Jesus more than just a few red letters on a page.

Luke 14:28-30 says,

“But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money and then everyone would laugh at you. They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it’!”

- Luke 14:28-30

Essentially Jesus is calling out our human eagerness paired with our human limits. Jesus is aware that you and I are often willing to say we want something good for us, but not often aware of what it will take from us to receive it.

We love the idea of being in shape, but after mile one of a run, we seem to have second thoughts. We love the idea of eating healthy, but when dessert is on the menu we think again. We fantasize about financial freedom in our lives, but when we open amazon, well, we all know what happens with same-day shipping.

We all want the love, joy, and peace that come from knowing Jesus, but we fail to acknowledge the cost of following Him.

In Mark chapter 9, Jesus is asked to heal a father’s son from a tormenting Spirit. Jesus responds to the request for healing by saying, “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

The man replies…

“I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief!”

- Mark 9:24

This story paints a perfect picture of what our prayer can be today.

Maybe you’re tired of living a life that is always catching up to your commitments and seems to always be falling short when it comes to your relationship with Jesus. Today, you can stop striving and guessing if you have what it takes to follow Jesus and start praying and asking him to amplify your ability to have faith in him.

You may feel that the cost of following Jesus is too high, but you can pray for a greater capacity to pay that cost. You can say, “I do want to follow you, but help me overcome the parts of me that don’t.”