By David ReayThursday 28 Jul 2022LifeWords DevotionalsDevotionsReading Time: 2 minutes
So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth. “How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father. He replied, “Since he was a little boy. The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.” “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.” The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!” (NLT)
If we believed some teaching about faith from some people, this father of the troubled boy would not have received help from Jesus. Such writers and speakers would warn the father that he had to have more faith, that he had to put all doubts aside in order to see healing.
Isn’t it wonderful that Jesus doesn’t agree with such teaching. He does not put us through some faith test, ticking the required number of boxes before he responds to us. He does not cruelly scrutinise us to check if we have secret uncertainties lurking inside us. He seems to reckon that if we ask for his help, that is faith enough.
We need faith in order to come to him for help in the first place. But we don’t need to psyche ourselves up to increase our faith, nor do we need to expel all doubts and confusion from within. Just trusting that Jesus can help us is enough. Elsewhere Jesus says a mustard seed amount of faith will be sufficient.
It is not the amount of faith we have that is important: it is the object of our faith that matters most. The father’s faith in this story was nothing to write home about, he would never be termed a faith hero. He was only a helpless desperate man who turned to Jesus for help with his own fragile faith. It was enough. He got help.
Blessings,
David