Jesus encountered a man who was very upset. Upset to the point of despair. He feared for the life of his little girl. He was being told his daughter had just died. Jesus spoke to him saying:
Do not be afraid; only believe.
As we read the scriptures this simple instruction by Jesus seems to embody two major recurring themes.
Believe
and
Fear Not
And He connects the two themes together. His implication seems to be that believing is the substitute or cure for the man’s fears.
But the man’s fears are completely rational. The daughter was sick when he left the home. Trustworthy servants had just told him the daughter was dead. He was facing a life of grief and loneliness and overwhelming loss. How could any one be expected not to face such prospects with fear ?
And believe ? Believe what ? Jesus tells him to believe but he does not tell him what to believe.
For generations the church organizations have also been telling us to believe. And they are much more helpful. They tell us what to believe. They give us creeds, catechisms, and doctrinal statements to memorize. They tell us to believe the Bible and memorize its verses. We are offered a multitude of religious facts to believe. And yet our experience is common to all. The stuff we have memorized has no effect on our fears.
Why is this our experience ? It is because most of us have never come to grips with the essence of what Jesus was saying when He said, “only believe”. Jesus was not talking with this deeply troubled man about his doctrine or creed. He was talking to him about their relationship. He was saying in essence for the man to relax and have confidence in Jesus to handle the crisis. Then Jesus demonstrated what He meant by confidently going to the man’s home. He faced the ridicule of the scoffers mourning there. And, He confidently spoke to the little girl and got her up.
Now many of us miss the significance of what Jesus did by saying to ourselves, “But of course; He was God.” But this Jesus was tempted in every way that you and I are tempted. He did not know in an intellectual sense anything more than the distraught father knew when He spoke. He intellectually knew even less than the scoffers knew when He dismissed them. But, He believed. Believed ? Believed what ?
What was it Jesus believed that He was asking the man to believe ?
He believed in the character of the Father who was speaking in His heart and leading Him in His actions. He was asking the distraught father to believe in Jesus character and to believe that Jesus the Son was a faithful representative of the character of His Father.
The heart cry of God (Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit) has continually been for each of us to have complete confidence in His deep personal unfailing love. This is what He is talking about when He invites and implores us to believe. It is always about our relationship in our hearts not about the knowledge in our heads.
Are our creeds, doctrines, and the Bible valuable ? They are and they can be quite helpful. But without the reality of a confident trusting relationship, they embody the forms of Godliness but deny the reality of the power.
The enemy attacks us with fear. The world echos the fear and explains in great detail all the things we should fear. Religious people resound with more fears about God, judgement and the impossibility of pleasing God.
But Jesus continues to say:
Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God believe also in me.
….
Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you….
Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.
His, thus Yours with much love,
Stuart
Ponder a bit the difference between:
I know that is a true fact.
And
I believe in the one who told me that.
His-Family 
I believe in Shannon the sent son of God.
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Oh, Stuart, how I needed this today. Struggling with emotional upset regarding things in personal life as well as fake news. Your sharing has calmed me down and I will pray this through before bedtime tonight, following Pr. 3:5-7 and Phil. 4:30. Thank you so much and have a blessed day.
In His Love, Ivy
Sent from my iPad
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This touched my heart…Lord touch my heart Deep, Deeper and Deepest where no man can go…..
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