Unbelief: A Believer's Worst Nightmare? Part I (or How I Read the Anatomy of a Crush)

Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"
Mark 9:24 (NIV)

Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional for this week's "60 Seconds..."!

I've got a doozy for us all to have a look at this time and that is one word; unbelief...

First of all, as always, let us define the word "unbelief": -

lack of religious belief; an absence of faith

Perfect!

Why is it 'perfect'?

Simple.

Take a look at that last part again: -

...an absence of faith

If there is an absence, then there has got to be something else in its place right?

Am I right?

The Absence of Belief

In the absence of belief there is often something else present; doubt.

I say 'doubt' because if you are not believing then what are you doing? You're doubting.

Be it that your sports team will win the championship, that your friend will come through on a deal s/he made, or that you will get that all clear from the doctors next Wednesday (don't ask me why I said Wednesday in particular, just trust me, I know where I'm going with this!).

So if doubt is the absence of belief then what does doubt say about you?

That you're a failure? No.

That you're somehow less than perfect? No.

That you're untrustworthy because you cannot trust something to be true, or false, whatever the need may be at the time? Not at all!

We are all human (ED - really? is that the line you're going with here, TLP?!) and therefore we are all prone to our moments of doubt, our moments of darkness of our faith. It is often what we choose to do in those dark moments, though, that can often define the next chapter of our lives.

Do we walk forward with a doubting eye and a wandering mind from trust to doubt, from doubt to trust?

It's not the end of the world if you experience these moments of darkness for your faith, whatever it is placed in. It just simply means that you are being tested to root out where your faith really stands.

Do you crumble when the pressure really is on?

Or do you stand up and burst into flames leaving behind you a wake of awesome colour and fire as you move up to the next level?

I'll tell you what I do; the latter!

A Promise 7 Years in the Making

I could have done the former when God first told me that he's got a beautiful, amazing young woman picked out for me over six years ago!

I was walking along the beach in Llandudno, North Wales when the moment hit me and from that moment onward, it gave me a purpose that was greater than myself.

I started to see that I was going to be held responsible for something far greater than my own life; the life of another!

I had my moments where I doubted that she was coming, that she was really on her way. Man, I lost count of the amount of times that I said to God that I wanted to know what the hold up was and when was she coming.

Do you know what He said to me? "She's coming".

How was that supposed to be of comfort to me when I wanted her to arrive there and then?! :-D

It was supposed to comfort me the moment that I realised that all the time I had been spending doubting God at His word could have been spent preparing myself to be the man I have to be in order to win her heart and start a family together.

Boldness, or what?

I've been through my own share of disappointments as far as online dating goes and, having decided to knock that on the head now, God has since revealed to me that not only am I attending the same church that she is but also, I believe, I'm getting closer to really knowing just who she is.

I firmly believe that the more I ignore my doubts and press on into everything that God has got for me, then the closer I get to her.

So, to quote Morrissey: -

"The more you ignore me, the closer I get"

So what am I supposed to do in the meantime? Continue doubting?

HELL NO!!!

Instead I take everything that I have learned about my future (ED - including one nosebleed inducing revelation, quite literally!) and put it all in the box marked 'My Future' and keep on living every single day as if it's my last; because it just might be!

Final Thought

Seeing as this has merged with the first part of a trilogy I was planning on doing this week separate from the devotional, the next part will be up either tomorrow or Wednesday with the final part on Thursday evening.

In it, I'm going to continue to look at how unbelief has played its role in causing me, at times, to doubt that God is really at work crafting a great adventure for me!

Stay focused, bro's, on your direction and know that it's a good one because get this; no matter what happens to you, it needn't be the breaking of you!

I expect to have some more revelations in the next few weeks!

Peace out!