Unbelief happens in the best of Familes

Matthew 13:53-58

Unbelief is defined as an absence of faith.  Have you ever found yourself as a skeptic, a non-believer in someone or some group of people?  Sure you have and so have I, it happens almost daily in the culture we live in, with the misinformation of our government, the media, the Internet, and sometime even in our families.  What you believe, and whom you believe has everything to do with your relationships, and that was true from the beginning of mankind.

Do you recall Adam and Eve, they were not like you and me, in that they did not know how to sin, they were pure, and they walked and talked with God in the Garden of Eden.  And then the one Jesus calls the thief in John 10:10, the one Jesus tells us came only to steal and kill and destroy, came in the form of a serpent and spoke to Eve about the integrity of none other than God the Father.  Do you recall the spin (lies) that the serpent used on Eve, to place doubt in her mind, “He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?”  “And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

We read the account, to be a god was a great temptation, and both Adam who was standing with his woman and did nothing to protect her, but also received the lie in his heart and acted on it, and that day their eyes were open and they knew sin.  So unbelief enters into the hearts and minds of all people, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

So you and I have the ability to look at history and see the results that the sin of unbelief has had on our families, our nations, and our culture.  Do you understand that it happens in the best of families, ask Jesus, for it is clear that at many points His family did not believe that He was God.  And if his family is having unbelief, what chance is He going to have with the neighbors who watched Him grow-up?  This is the account of Matthew when Jesus returns to His home down: “And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there, and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.”

Unbelief will keep you and I from seeing the mighty works of our Lord.  “In all unbelief there are these two things: a good opinion of one's self, and a bad opinion of God.”  (Horatius Bonar)  “Christ never failed to distinguish between doubt and unbelief. Doubt is can't believe. Unbelief is won't believe. Doubt is honesty. Unbelief is obstinacy. Doubt is looking for light. Unbelief is content with darkness.” (Henry Drummond)

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice