Something that I have learned from my children is that they tend to make a big deal out of the wrong things.
Just a few days ago at dinner time I accidentally gave my 2 year old son the wrong cup. He was so upset that he broke down in tears. Having the right cup was apparently a BIG DEAL to him. At the same time this child will go out into a busy street full of traffic without giving it a second thought.Children have a difficult time knowing what is a big deal and what is not a big deal.
You and I can be very much like little children when it comes to spiritual matters. We have a difficult time deciphering what is a BIG DEAL and what is not. One of the consequences of the sinful nature you and I inherited is that we have difficulty figuring out what is a problem and what is not a problem. We tend to cry at spilled milk and then run into the busy street when it comes to spiritual matters.
This problem is much bigger than with the illustration I gave about children. Spiritual matters have eternal consequences. Heaven and hell lie in the balance. These matters are nothing like spilled milk or being given the wrong cup.
That's why the Bible is so helpful for us. It tells us what God thinks of things. The Bible gives us an accurate portrayal of ourselves. In the Bible God tells us what is a BIG DEAL and what is not.
God thinks that unbelief is a BIG DEAL. Don't take my word for it. You can see what God thinks of unbelief simply by looking at what He thinks of it in His word. In Mark 6:1-6 Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth. So far in Mark, Jesus has been ministering only around the Sea of Galilee. You might wonder how Jesus is going to be received. Will His hometown welcome Him? Of all people, you would think that they would respond with faith. After Jesus spoke in the Synagogue, this is how they responded; “…many who heard him were astonished, saying, 'Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?' And they took offense at him.” After watching Him grow up, after hearing of His miracles, and after hearing Him speak they responded with unbelief.What is significant is how Jesus responds to their unbelief. We are told in verse six that; "6 ..he marveled because of their unbelief." Jesus marvels at their unbelief. There are only two times in the gospels that Jesus is recorded as marveling- the first time is here in this passage, where He marvels at unbelief, and the second time is in Luke 7:9 where he marvels at the faith of a gentile Centurion. Apparently for Jesus unbelief is a BIG DEAL.
In fact, unbelief is the foundation of each and every sin. Unbelief fails to take God at His word and calls God a liar. Unbelief says God is not who He says He is, that He is not all knowing, that He is not good, His commandments are not good, and that I know better. The bottom line is that unbelief says that God is not a BIG DEAL. We can trace unbelief as the heart of the problem from the Garden of Eden, through Noah's flood, through Israel's rejection of God, the cross, all the way to your sin and my sin. The problem at the heart is rebellion - another word for unbelief. We are responsible to believe in Him.
John 12:10-13“10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
John 3:18 "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
Whether or not you and I believe in Jesus according to God's word is a BIG DEAL. There is nothing more important than what you believe or don't believe about Jesus. These are eternal matters. It is a much bigger deal than most of the things that we think are important. Oh that you and I would take God at His word. That you and I would see that God is a BIG DEAL and we would express this by believing in Him.
The Bible calls you and I to live by faith in Jesus Christ. This is not a momentary thing but a life long thing. What is amazing is that only when you and I look through the eyes of faith can you see the world the right way. When you look through eyes of faith God will look big and everything else will look small (including yourself). Only through eyes of faith can we make sense of life. Unlike Children who can't see things correctly; through eyes of faith we can call spilled milk what it is and we can see the danger of going out into the busy street.
UNBELIEF IS A BIG DEAL TO GOD
Pastor Isaac Rattin
Something that I have learned from my children is that they tend to make a big deal out of the wrong things.
Just a few days ago at dinner time I accidentally gave my 2 year old son the wrong cup. He was so upset that he broke down in tears. Having the right cup was apparently a BIG DEAL to him. At the same time this child will go out into a busy street full of traffic without giving it a second thought.Children have a difficult time knowing what is a big deal and what is not a big deal.
You and I can be very much like little children when it comes to spiritual matters. We have a difficult time deciphering what is a BIG DEAL and what is not. One of the consequences of the sinful nature you and I inherited is that we have difficulty figuring out what is a problem and what is not a problem. We tend to cry at spilled milk and then run into the busy street when it comes to spiritual matters.
This problem is much bigger than with the illustration I gave about children. Spiritual matters have eternal consequences. Heaven and hell lie in the balance. These matters are nothing like spilled milk or being given the wrong cup.
That's why the Bible is so helpful for us. It tells us what God thinks of things. The Bible gives us an accurate portrayal of ourselves. In the Bible God tells us what is a BIG DEAL and what is not.
God thinks that unbelief is a BIG DEAL. Don't take my word for it. You can see what God thinks of unbelief simply by looking at what He thinks of it in His word. In Mark 6:1-6 Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth. So far in Mark, Jesus has been ministering only around the Sea of Galilee. You might wonder how Jesus is going to be received. Will His hometown welcome Him? Of all people, you would think that they would respond with faith. After Jesus spoke in the Synagogue, this is how they responded; “…many who heard him were astonished, saying, 'Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?' And they took offense at him.” After watching Him grow up, after hearing of His miracles, and after hearing Him speak they responded with unbelief. What is significant is how Jesus responds to their unbelief. We are told in verse six that; "6 ..he marveled because of their unbelief." Jesus marvels at their unbelief. There are only two times in the gospels that Jesus is recorded as marveling- the first time is here in this passage, where He marvels at unbelief, and the second time is in Luke 7:9 where he marvels at the faith of a gentile Centurion. Apparently for Jesus unbelief is a BIG DEAL.
In fact, unbelief is the foundation of each and every sin. Unbelief fails to take God at His word and calls God a liar. Unbelief says God is not who He says He is, that He is not all knowing, that He is not good, His commandments are not good, and that I know better. The bottom line is that unbelief says that God is not a BIG DEAL. We can trace unbelief as the heart of the problem from the Garden of Eden, through Noah's flood, through Israel's rejection of God, the cross, all the way to your sin and my sin. The problem at the heart is rebellion - another word for unbelief. We are responsible to believe in Him.
John 12:10-13 “10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
John 3:18 "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
Whether or not you and I believe in Jesus according to God's word is a BIG DEAL. There is nothing more important than what you believe or don't believe about Jesus. These are eternal matters. It is a much bigger deal than most of the things that we think are important. Oh that you and I would take God at His word. That you and I would see that God is a BIG DEAL and we would express this by believing in Him.
The Bible calls you and I to live by faith in Jesus Christ. This is not a momentary thing but a life long thing. What is amazing is that only when you and I look through the eyes of faith can you see the world the right way. When you look through eyes of faith God will look big and everything else will look small (including yourself). Only through eyes of faith can we make sense of life. Unlike Children who can't see things correctly; through eyes of faith we can call spilled milk what it is and we can see the danger of going out into the busy street.