Faith and Forgiveness

 

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK

FAITH AND FORGIVENESS

Mark 11:20-25

20 In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. 21 Peter remembered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!" 22 "Have faith in God," Jesus answered. 23 "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." 

NIV

As we noticed when Jesus first spoke to this tree, as Matthew records it withered right away, but Mark made mention they did not see it until the next day. What appears to be a little different is not the issue as the tree did wither and his disciples noticed. As we thought about that before, we too may wither if we are not bearing fruit. But now Jesus makes this affirming statement regarding having faith and what the result of faith looks like. There is something interesting as they were somewhere between Bethany on the Mount of Olives and the city of Jerusalem, so then what mountain is Jesus talking about. Could he be referring to Jerusalem as it does sit on Mount Moriah? This is the very place Abraham offered his son Isaac and God provided that ram instead. But it was a place where God affirmed the faith of Abraham. Nevertheless, the point Jesus is making is that doubt destroys faith. What appears to be the truth Jesus is speaking here is that when we ask with pure undoubting faith, it will happen. That is the problem for the most part because when we ask, we may well be asking with hope rather than with faith. We hope it will happen, we believe, but our belief is accompanied by hoping it will happen. Jesus did not say hope but do not doubt, so the hope is doubt, faith has no doubt. Perhaps the reason we have allowed doubt or hope to creep into our faith is that we have not seen too many mountains being thrown into the sea, so to speak. Then again this issue about forgiving when we stand praying, and in the context, that would refer to praying as in asking anything in the name of Jesus such as telling this mountain to go throw yourself into the sea. How can we ever expect anything to happen if we harbor any unforgiveness? Then there is the issue that if we do not forgive if we hold anything against anyone then the simple fact is that Our Father in heaven will not forgive our sin. If we believe anything, we have to believe that we need to forgive everyone all the time, holding nothing in, keeping no record of anything that might even appear to be wrong, or any offense that may have been committed against us. This is not just about saying we forgive them, but it is actually forgiving them in our heart and mind, leaving it all behind, pure forgiveness, so that our Father in heaven may forgive our sins. We have known believers who use the first works of Jesus as a way to sort of name it and claim it type of life. That may work, but just naming it is not enough. We have to name it without any doubt whatsoever and we cannot have any unforgiveness whatsoever in our hearts. Faith requires forgiveness for faith to be real. That may well be the works James is talking about when he says that faith without the work of forgiveness is dead. So we need to have faith and forgive.