Unbelief: “Oh well, I guess I don’t have enough faith for that, no biggie”
by Jared on Dec.15, 2011, under For Christians
Some things in life have stealth importance. They are paramount, but in the way we think in our society, it’s all too easy to relegate them to the back-burner.
Belief is one of those things.
What do we believe we should believe?
Jesus said “come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens and I will give you rest.” (Mt 11:28 NLT). The Bible also says not to worry (Phil 4:6), and those who fear haven’t made perfect in love. It also says to be perfect as the Father in Heaven is perfect, and yet God’s commands aren’t burdensome.
So… imagine a life without heavy burdens, no worry, no fear, living in love, living in God, and to top it off, you’re perfect! …Whatever that means.
But I believe we’re supposed to live that way. I believe we can, and I believe it’s not a hard thing. It just comes down to belief.
And yet, sometimes I believe things that lead me into worry, fear, and not living in love. At some point I realized that virtually every problem I have comes back to believing the wrong thing, and not believing the right thing.
The fierce battle over our understanding of how things are
It is said that the devil’s only weapon left against us is to deceive, to trick us into believing some distortion of the truth. Our war is in opposition, and we must be fierce about it as well:
“for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” 2 Cor 10:4-5
How do we go wrong?
I like to identify ways I and other people go off track, and how to get back on track:
- Do we get angry or frustrated when things aren’t perfect or don’t go as planned? If so, we have forgotten the serenity we can have with an active belief in God’s sovereignty and that in all things He works for the good of those who love Him who have been called according to His purpose. (Ro 8:28)
- Do we feel we need to flatter others, or God, or make sure everyone knows how available we are to them, in order to feel good about ourselves? If so, we have forgotten that we can be like Jesus and with humility, only do what we see the Father doing. ”…the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing…” John 5:19. If that’s true for Jesus, how much more so for us?
- Do we feel we need to achieve to have value? If so, we have forgotten God has adopted and accepted us as His sons and daughters. (Ro
- Are we dependent on a feeling of connectedness to people we admire in order to feel satisfied? If so, we have forgotten the unity we have or will have in Christ (John 17), and that all things belong to you (1 Cor 3:21-23)
- Do we fear lack, and feel we need to hang on or we won’t have enough? If so, we have forgotten our God is Jehovah Jirah, our provider. ”And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:19)
- Do we fear for our safety, thinking we can’t trust anyone but ourselves? If so, we have forgotten God is our refuge (Ps 91)
- Do we feel impatient, and fear missing out on fun and good things? If so, we have forgotten God’s plan for our lives are good, and we can trust Him each step of the way. (Jer 29:11)
- Do we get upset about injustice, and feel things can’t be right until we make them right? If so, we have forgotten that vengeance is the Lord’s, and He is faithful to be a judge in due time. (Heb 10:30) It also helps to be innocent like a child. (Mk 10:15)
- Do we think we don’t matter, stop sticking up for ourselves, and stop pursuing our goals and dreams? We have forgotten God is love, and He satisfies the desire of every living thing (Ps 145:16), even desires we forgot about.
I have found the Enneagram a useful map of how people go wrong. In case you’re curious, the numbers above correspond to my understanding the 9 points of the Enneagram.
How serious is it?
In addition to suffering needlessly, God takes belief or unbelief pretty seriously.
Hebrews 3:7-13 (NAS) says:
Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,
“TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,
DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME,
AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS,
WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED Me BY TESTING Me,
AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS.
“THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION,
AND SAID, ‘THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART,
AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS’;
AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH,
‘THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.’ ”
Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.
But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
I highlighted the “evil, unbelieving heart” part. Unbelief is serious! Not entering God’s rest is serious. So, don’t do it 
The rather good consequences of getting it right
… “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called “the friend of God.” Jm 2:23
How good is it to have righteousness credited to you? And just for believing? Sounds like a good deal, not to mention being a friend of God. How can we be a friend of God if we don’t believe what He says?
Hebrews 3:2 says Jesus and Moses were faithful. Easton’s Bible Dictionary says faithful here “as a designation of Christians, mans full of faith, trustful, and not simply trustworthy.”
I have wondered at times what faithfulness really means and if it is more than being trustworthy. Based on Easton’s definition, and the seriousness of unbelief, I see now how being full of faith is a vibrant and active virtue.
Hebrews 11 is the Biblical hall of fame for those who lived by faith. I enjoy pondering each faithful person there, and think about what it might mean to live with the same kind of faith today. What has God told me personally to believe for, through Scriptures and through His still small voice? I ponder what it would have been like to spending a big chunk of my life making a boat when it had never rained. Noah did it, and “with reverence.”
Sometimes believing seems hard. What strategies can help?
“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Ro 10:17)
There’s a big key!
Need more faith? Belief is serious, and becoming familiar with the word of Christ can seriously help you.
Also, God loves you. Go to Him and let His Holy Spirit minster to you, and help you believe down to your core. He understands the depths of your mind better than you do, so His help can be invaluable.
Epilogue – Enneagram
How long does a blog post have to be in order to qualify for an Epilogue? Anyway, here’s one:
Like I said above, I also find the Enneagram one tool that has helped me a lot, although I am a little hesitant to recommend to the world at large the book that helped me, “The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram” by Sandra Maitri, because it is not written from a Christian perspective (though I personally thought it did a good job of being religion neutral, but I know others may have a hard time with it.) However, I highly recommend it to some people I know, and perhaps I will write more about it from my own perspective in the future.
Often, people struggle with one more than the others at a point in their lives, and it is called their ‘ennea-type’. The flip side is that when they believe the right thing, they can have a stronger virtue in that area. I don’t like to box people into types, and I personally take it as a challenge to excel in all 9 ways.
Is it a perfect map with 9? I don’t know, but I like it, and there are some other cool things about it that I won’t get into now.
