THE SIN OF UNBELIEF

Written by Allison Sylvester-Conliffe

One may not consider that unbelief of the Word of God is a sin against God.  If you search the Scriptures you would find the Lord saying to us the following expressions...

• ”If you believe, then you shall see the Glory of the Lord”.  John 11:40
• He would ask – "Do you believe that I can do this?"  Matthew 9:28 
• The Lord would heal saying, “Your faith (belief) has made you whole.”

There was a time that Jesus could not do any miracles because of the people’s unbelief.  Matthew 15:58.  Jesus also said that if you believe in Him you will not perish. John 11:26

Abraham had to believe God at His Word, leave his family and all that was familiar, and go to a place that God would reveal to him.  Galatians 3:6 says that Abraham believed God and it was accounted unto him for righteousness.  Elijah had to believe God for an abundance of rain when he was seeing a cloudless sky.  Noah had to believe God as He instructed him how to build an ark in preparation for something that was never experienced before … a flood.  It would then be fair to say that God puts great importance on one’s belief in Him.

Let us look at the account of Lazarus in John 11.  Lazarus’ sisters sent messengers to Jesus with news that his friend Lazarus was gravely ill, meaning that He should come to him.  The Word from God to the messengers was – “This sickness is not unto death but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby!”  That was the Word that was spoken in that very situation, coming directly from the Mouth of God.  I consider that a done deal right there.

However, do you think that the hearers believed on that Word?  Did the hearers rest in that Word?  Did the hearers remember that God had spoken through Isaiah the prophet saying – “So shall my Word be that goeth forth out of My mouth, it shall not return unto Me void but it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper in the thing where unto I sent it.”  Isaiah 55:11  The hearers’ response did not suggest that they had believed at all.

Even as Jesus spoke to His disciples concerning Lazarus, they did not fully grasp what He was saying to them.  They saw Jesus do miracles of healing, so they only recognized Him as the Healer and not as the Restorer of things that are dead.  In other words, in their hearts they limited God and His ability to do more than heal.  Jesus was revealing Himself to them as the Resurrection and the Life, but since they did not believe fully, they could not perceive what the Lord was revealing to them.

Jesus spoke another Word of Life to Martha as well as in the ears of those who were in their company.  He said, “Your brother shall rise again!”  However, they believed that Jesus meant that Lazarus would remain dead in the natural scheme of things, but would rise again on the last Day.

Though this thought is true, and though they heard the Word of Life from the Lord, they still saw a dead Lazarus in the grave and so everybody present kept up the lamenting and wailing.  This caused Jesus to be so grieved in His Spirit that He groaned and was so troubled that He wept.  He wept, not because of Lazarus’ apparent death but because of the fact that nobody believed Him at His Word.

We all have situations that are negative in our lives.  This has been so ordained for the people who follow Jesus Christ so that we can bear fruit.  Jesus has already warned us in His Word that tribulation must come to us.  This is the way of the Cross and we must take up the cross assigned to us and follow after Jesus.

When these negative situations confront us we must revive and apply the Word of God that is in us which pertains to our individual situations.  We must hold that Word up to God and wait patiently for Him to answer.  We cannot do that in unbelief.  Faith in God...or rather belief in God...is what pleases Him.  We can then surmise that unbelief displeases God.  Therefore it is sin to operate in unbelief.

The trial of your faith (belief) works patience – so says the Book of James.  James went on to say that we ought to “let patience have its perfect work, that we may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing” – but we first have to believe what the Word of God says.

God richly bless you.