A Breakfast Devotion L&L 1963-4
L&L 1963-4: The Young Believers' Department, ed. by Harold M. Harper, 1500 Woods Dr., Florence, SC: A Breakfast Devotion by Richard Edwin Burson of Hutchinson, Reno Co., Kansas
"...The father of the child cried and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief" (Mark 9:24).
The cry of this father is the cry of every Christian: “Lord, I believe, help Thou mine unbelief.” The fact of the matter is simply this: we are never made conscious of what unbelievers we are until we believe. We never see how awful unbelief really is until we have faith in Christ. Then, suddenly, when we have faith in Christ, we cry out: I believe. Then running right behind that wonderful confession of faith are the words: “Mine unbelief.”
Oswald Chambers said once that all Christians are part-time agnostics, and that is certainly true of us all. The humble confession of faith made by this man to Christ himself is more weighty than all the creeds of Christendom. Public confessions and recital of creeds may be all right in their place but better by far is this man’s simple confession from the heart: “Lord, I believe.” My child, do you believe? Whom do you believe? Can you say with this man: “Lord, I believe”?
But you will please notice that one is never satisfied when he becomes a believer in Christ. If you tell me you have become a believer in Christ, and that you have been perfectly satisfied ever since I know full well you are not converted to Christ. No, indeed. Just as soon as a person comes to Christ and cries out, “Lord, I believe” the heart begins to respond to the love of the Savior and the glaring fact of the minuteness of one’s faith becomes ever so evident to the new believer and he cries: “Help mine unbelief.” If you have only talked about your wonderful faith, your strong beliefs, your deep convictions, you have not even started on the path of faith.
The first step of faith you ever take will make you cry out for help for your unbelief. It is inherent in man to doubt God. Experience only crowds us closer to Him, and we find Him the source of what little faith we have and we cry,“Help mine unbelief.” Remember the Lord Jesus reprimanded His disciples: “Oh, ye of little faith.” They were not people of no faith or they would not have been His at all. They were not people with mature faith or they would have been in heaven. They were people of “little faith.” This man fits right there. “Help,” he cried, “mine unbelief.” It shows he had life because a dead man never recognizes his malady. A man who is dying or dead hardly knows what is killing him. But a man in full vigor recognizes the plague and cries for help.
You say you have never cried out to God about your unbelief? You are probably not even saved. The first cry of healthy faith is: “Help mine unbelief.” You will notice that this man did not take the matter of unbelief lightly. He “saith with tears, Lord, I believe.” To really know the love of Christ makes our unbelief very serious in our eyes. To really trust in the lovingSavior makes our doubts appear mighty harmful. Hence the man cried with tears confessing: "I believe," and with tears he admitted his unbelief and asked for help.
If you are really a Christian and are unaware of the awful unbelief that lurks in the human breast then you need to get one good look at Christ. How submissive He was to the will of the Father. How eagerly He went toward Calvary. "Not My will, but Thine, be done" was the motto of His life. Get one glimpse, I say, of Christ and you will not be talking about your faith. You will be on your face before God, crying out with this good man in our text: "Help Thou mine unbelief."
Notice this man came to the right person: "Help Thou." He had learned something many Christians go for years without learning, and that is simply that you cannot take one step in the Christian life without Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ said: "Without Me ye can do nothing." He meant just that. Absolutely nothing. You can't even think clean thoughts without Jesus Christ. Not one single, solitary good thing can you ever do without Him. Don't forget that. This man, early in his experience, learned it and I think it must have made him a useful man of God.
"Help, Thou." He came to God. We like to have you come to us with problems, but it is better to go to God with them. We are to share one another's burdens, but better get directly to God. Confession to one another is good, but better to go to God. "Help Thou" has never been very popular, but you show me a young person who is going on for God and I'll show you a young person who turns to God for help each step of the way.
I hope that you can join this good man in his confession of faith, in his acknowledgment of weakness and immaturity, and in his approach to Christ: Help Thou, mine unbelief.
Also See
Sources
- Light and Liberty 1963-4, pp. 98-99