The Heart of Unbelief

I’ve been going to a chiropractor.

When it’s worth it to you, you’ll be back.

And that kind of captures some of the spirit of our walk with Christ too, doesn’t it?

I could go around here, and I could hear your stories about what made you come to Christ. What made you start following Him. Y’all could tell me stories. And stories. And stories.

And at the crux of all those stories would be this foundational moment when you said, “I just didn’t want my life to keep going the same way that it had been. I wanted something different.”

And for some of you in here, you’ve been walking with Jesus now for a number of years, and you’ve just been steady as she goes - no break in the relationship, no break in that intimacy…..you learn more about Him, you learn more about you, you see the need for change, and you embrace it, no matter what……

And for some of us in here….myself included….there’ve been these moments when we stepped off the train….pushed pause on things…..and decided to just….hang back. Maybe the cost of obedience was too much. Maybe we just have questions that we really need better answers to.

And if you’re in that first group, and you’ve never, not even once, seen a down turn, or a slow down in your walk with Christ, that’s awesome, because we’re going to be talking about how to KEEP that going.

And if you’re in that second group and you’ve HAD those moments of unbelief in your life, or even, if you’re HAVING that moment of unbelief in your life now, that’s awesome!! Because we’re going to be talking about how we cure that. Tonight.

Because at the heart of those moments, when we step back, when we pause on our walk with Christ....at the heart of that choice, that moment, lies the heart of unbelief.

And listen, we all, all of us know the right words. We know how to say the right things - we’ve been conditioned to use the right language and the proper customs here. We can modify our behavior to suit out environment. But eventually when we walk out of here, and we’re in our rooms, or in our car, with our friends…..we start living by a code of conduct. We stop SAYING things and we start DOING things.

We say what we think, but we live out what we believe.

The Cause of unbelief

John 12:43

- We don’t believe because we’re more comfortable with the status quo

At the root of unbelief is a question of morals not philosophy.

That’s why you still follow the same people you follow on instagram, or TikTok. That’s why you still listen to the same music, watch the same shows, the same movies.

That’s why you find yourself in the same stagnant position that you’re in.

Because you’re more comfortable where you are, and in order for things to get better, you’re going to have to make a choice…..

Because changing might mean you have to stop looking at what you’re looking at, talking to the people you’re talking to. Changing might mean that you have to stop leaning on these crutches of sin in your life, or maybe some of these things that you’re leaning on aren’t even SIN!! Maybe you’re avoiding confrontation.

The Cost of unbelief

And this is terrifying to me

John 12:36

While we persist in willful unbelief and disobedience, God’s truth is closed off to us.

The fact is, there is a cost associated with believing and following Jesus, and there is a cost associated with unbelief and abandoning Jesus as well.

You’re not going to stay the same. Your life isn’t about getting to a point of perceived equilibrium and STAYING there. We’re always heading somewhere…..and ultimately, we get to choose where that is.

The Cure for unbelief

Isaiah 6:1-7

Unbelief can only be countered with a genuine, unmistakable experience with God.

God has taken the first step - He always does. But then, He expects us to take the next step.

See, for each of us, there’s this moment where God revealed something of Himself to us, and we’ve had to make a decision - am I going to be like that? Or not.

See that’s the inherent danger for those of us who just want things to stay the same - we want things to get to a comfortable spot and just….STAY there!!!! Is that we can avoid, and we can run from, and we can do like our Father and Mother did in the Garden, and when God comes to MEET with us, we can hide ourselves……

We can stay in the presence of God’s blessings but depart from His blessed presence.

We do that. We show up on Wednesdays, Sundays. We enjoy the presence of God’s blessings, His people, His grace, His Kindness……but when He comes in the cool of the day to walk with us……are we making ourselves available? Or are we hiding?

Are we hiding behind supposed bussyness? Are we hiding behind….just not having enough time? Are we hiding behind….what?

Or let me ask it like this: What is the thing that’s keeping you from having a consistent time when you meet with God - in prayer, and in the reading of His Word?

Because here’s a step of belief and we’re going to experience it together, right now.

Do I truly believe that when I pray, and when I read this Word…that I’m meeting with God. Do I trust that He’s meeting with me?!

And you can say, I mean, sure but like…it’s not that massive. It’s not all that heavy……

Or you can walk away from this moment and say, “YES! When I read THIS and when I trust in Him, I’m meeting with GOD!”

And here’s the thing. If we’re truly meeting with God, something is going to change in us.

We will never meet with God and leave unchanged.

And so, we can make that choice to meet with Him…..engage, go all in, commit.

Or we can decide we want to stay right here……

And people have all sorts of reasons for saying they’re not ready to engage with God in His Word, and in prayer.

People say, “I don’t understand the Bible” - here’s the thing, Not knowing isn’t a problem, being unwilling to learn is a problem.

People say, I don’t have TIME! No. No, you’ve given that time to everything else.

See - all these reasons for NOT meeting with God, for NOT spending time with Him…..they’re just ways that we hide ourselves. And whether or not you understand it, they’re the ways in which we interact with unbelief. And like we talked about earlier. Unbelief has so incredibly little to do with facts. With statistics, with the truth. It has everything to do with our morality.