Unbelief and Religion

Recently I was reading from John 7:21-24 NIV:

[21] "Jesus said to them, “I did one miracle, and you are all amazed. [22] Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath. [23] Now if a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing a man’s whole body on the Sabbath? [24] Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.”

When I was reading this, I was amazed by the attitude of the people (specifically the religious people) that Jesus was addressing, namely that they thought He had broken the religious rules by healing on the Sabbath (see John 5:1-15 for the story). I was thinking about the fact that Jesus healed a man who had been an invalid for 38 years, and people were saying this couldn't be from God because He did it on a Sabbath. They were offended that God didn't follow the rules. They couldn't say they didn't believe the healing, because the man was whole and visible for all to see. But they were bound and determined not to believe that Jesus was the Messiah for any reason they could find, and breaking the rules of the Sabbath was enough reason.

I was reading an autobiography by Aimee Semple McPherson and she was talking about a time when God miraculously healed her broken foot and ankle. She had severely broken it, so bad that she had torn ligaments and the foot would hang straight down. She broke the foot and had it cast in one town, then traveled to the next town with her husband. In the next town the Lord healed her foot instantaneously, completely restoring the broken bone and all the ligaments, even cleansing it of any of the bruising. What I found interesting was that many of the people in the town where she was healed didn't believe she was healed because they had no proof it was broken in the first place, despite the fact that you could see her black and swollen toes sticking out of the end of the cast. When word got back to the town where she broke her foot and ankle, they didn't believe that she had been healed because they couldn't see her running and dancing.

As I was thinking about this story, I felt like the Lord tied it back to the verses from John. I felt like the issue being addressed is the issue of unbelief. So many people have a propensity to unbelief, and their first reaction on hearing anything miraculous is one of doubt, followed by trying to find a reason to prove the report wrong. Whether it doesn't fit their 'rules' for the way God works, or whether they don't have proof of one thing or the other, people are trying hard to not believe that God is alive and well and fully capable of healing people, and doing miracles. If they can't discredit the miracle, as happened in John 5, they try to discredit the one who God used. If they can't discredit them by finding something they have done wrong, they will try to attack their character, and label them radicals, zealots, holy-rollers, crazy, of the devil, etc.

I remember reading an author, I don't remember who, who was saying that the spirit of unbelief is one of the most prevalent anti-Christ spirits in the Church. At the time, it made some sense, but I see this more and more clearly. The enemy is actively trying to discredit anything that the Lord does through the power of the Holy Spirit, even in His own church.

Many of our churches are fine with worshipping God, reading the Bible and even preaching about God, but if strange things start happening like healing, miracles, speaking in tongues, laughing, crying, shouting, dancing, resting in the Spirit, or any other assorted experiences that are common under the power of the Holy Spirit, they start getting uncomfortable, and start trying to limit their exposure and try to bring things back into order. This order is the set of rules they have constructed within which God can work, and if it fits inside their rules, than it is God, anything else is questionable, and highly discouraged. While this might seem like good administrative process and can be passed off as protecting the body, it is really at its core the spirit of unbelief, for they refuse to believe God is capable of being God, continually creative, and sovereign over all.

I know, in my life, growing up with western thought and logic, I am quick to doubt, as I want proof. My prayer is that I will be open to the Lord in all His glorious ways, and that, even though it doesn't fit into anything I might have seen or experienced previously, my first inclination will be to believe and trust that God is alive and we'll and perfectly able to defend His own name and reputation.