Journey With Jesus: 31 Days Devotion From the Gospel of MarkSample

Faith comes from understanding

“I need to see it before I can believe it.” This is a common statement when people are asked to trust in a person, idea, or concept. Their experience determines their faith.

Does this sound like a foolproof way to ensure we don’t blindly believe in something? Perhaps. But our senses are limited. We may misinterpret the signals we are receiving. Places like the Trick Eye Museum use the fact that our brains can “deceive” us to see things that aren’t real to create optical illusion paintings and installations.

Led by Jesus up a high mountain, Peter, James, and John probably thought their eyes were playing tricks on them, too. They witnessed Jesus, dazzling white in His glory, talking to Elijah and Moses, prophets who supposedly lived and died ages ago in Israel. No wonder the disciples were afraid and at a loss for what to say and do (v3-6). Then a thundering voice from a cloud commanded them to do what Jesus said and suddenly, they were alone with Jesus again (v7-8). Nothing made sense!

Doubts could have emerged: “What just happened? What does Jesus mean when he says he will rise from the dead (v9-10)?”

The confusion continued. Back at the bottom of the mountain, a desperate father was seeking help to heal his possessed child (v17-18). Jesus’ disciples could not drive the spirit out because they lacked faith (v19). They failed to rely on God to do His ministry (v28-29). Though they should have experienced Jesus’ miracles by now, they still could not understand the nature of His work.

Today, many believers struggle with this—just like the disciples recognised that Jesus was special, we may say that Jesus is the Son of God. Yet, we do not understand what it really means. Faced with uncertain life circumstances, our faith wavers as we try to make sense of God’s ways. As a result, we are not able to trust Him fully in various areas of life.

We can take heart that our faith struggles are not out of the norm; the disciples, too, had their moments. They learnt from their mistakes but held onto Jesus, following Him. Eventually, they became the apostles of the early church. Faith is more than what we say or feel about Jesus. Faith is based on knowing who Jesus is and choosing to live in a way that honours Him as God. In other words, faith is a decision based on understanding.

Let’s be honest with God about our lack of faith if that’s our condition today. Ask God to help us overcome our unbelief by guiding us not just to experience but to understand who Jesus is.