Luke 12:57 English Standard Version (ESV) “And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?”

It would take months to cover all the issues of accusations of faith. We must judge for ourselves those things that cause us to doubt our faith. Getting down to the root of the problem can be difficult. It could be buried in our past so deep that it would take a therapist to discover.

Mark 9:24 English Standard Version (ESV) Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

The sequence here is important. The father of a mute boy brought the boy to the disciples of Jesus and they could not heal the boy. Then Jesus comes and declares to the father that all things are possible for those who believe. The father confesses his belief but then asks for Jesus to help his unbelief. Then Jesus casted out the demon and the boy is healed.

Whose unbelief kept the boy from being healed by the disciples? The father’s or the disciples?

The answer is neither. We believe and therefore we expect results and when the results are negative, we accuse someone of unbelief. If all things are possible for one who believes, then failure must be someone’s fault. This is the accusation of faith, that someone has to be blamed.

What is missing in the telling is the most obvious issue of faith. Was God’s will at work in that moment? God does all things with purpose. Faith here has more to do with seeing and believing in God’s purpose than it does in simple belief.

When we pray over two people with the same exact disorder and one is healed and the other is not, how does the results affect the faith of everyone present? Each of us will have our own belief about the success for one and the failure for another. It is hard to see that faith did not fail either patient. What faith does in others is not always obvious.

What does faith do in us?