Text: Mark 9:14-29
“Jesus said to him, ‘If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.’” —Mark 9:23
Katie Bone is a 17-year-old from New Mexico and is already a nationally ranked rock climber, and the Champion of the third ever American Ninja Warrior hit competition as seen on the NBC TV series. She is not only the youngest female to ever win the championship but is the youngest of only three women in the history of the show to complete a Stage 2 Finals course. And yet she does all of this while living with type 1 diabetes (T1D).
Diagnosed at just 11-years-old, Katie’s first question to her doctor was, “When can I climb again?” She has chosen not to let it hold her back from chasing her dreams and continuously advocates for awareness, representation, and support for research for a cure for T1D. Katie lives by the motto:
“I don’t need easy. I just need possible.”
There was a man in Mark 9 who desperately needed a new kind of possible. He was struggling with a distressing personal crisis. His son was possessed with an unclean and evil spirit, and the disciples of Jesus had been unsuccessful in liberating the boy. After a quick reprimand to the “faithless generation” around him, Jesus summoned the boy. The despairing father pleaded, “But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
The “if” wasn’t contingent upon what Jesus could do, the “if” was redirected to the man’s faith. These are not the words of some name-it-claim-it spiritual pimp, pandering for profits among the gullible. These are red letters in the Bible! They are the literal words of Jesus, himself. When he said, “all things are possible to him who believes,” he sought to open this man’s eyes to a whole new kind of possible—one that didn’t have God’s ability boxed in a humanly constructed theological container. I believe Jesus wanted to blow the whole lid off the container.
It’s obvious this poor father had a little bit of faith, otherwise he wouldn’t have been there asking for help. He desired God’s promises, they just seemed too good to be true. Thus, he asked with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” This is a statement one can only make by faith. As Charles Spurgeon wrote, “While men have no faith, they are unconscious of their unbelief; but, as soon as they get a little faith, then they begin to be conscious of the greatness of their unbelief.”
This man recognized his doubts and sought for help with his unbelief. What a powerful prayer we might pray, “God, help my unbelief today.” And what an answer to prayer this father received, as God blew him away with an amazing miracle that day at the foot of the mountain. Like every unclean spirit in the presence of Jesus, this one was no different. It was no match for the power of God. Jesus cast it out, and the boy was well.
Have you been tempted into assuming that the promises of God are just too good to be true? Where do you need a new kind of possible in your life today? What lids of limitations have been put on your faith that God might want to “blow up” today? When confronted with our doubts, fears, or unbelief, we must look to Christ for grace, and it will come as sufficient as the air we breathe. He is able, and we don’t need easy, we just need possible. Think about that as you seek to abide in Him this week.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, help me to recognize my unbelief for what it is. Confront my doubts and my fears with the power of a new kind of possible, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Questions for Personal Reflection and/or Group Discussion:
- When have you been in a distressing situation that seemed helpless or hopeless?
- In what ways can we “theologically” put God into a man-made container? Have you ever done this?
- When have you ever prayed, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”?
- What can this passage teach us about the “shepherdly” nature of Jesus?
- What doubts need to be confronted in your life today?
