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Unfiltered but Honest Words

 

Unguarded or unfiltered words often come out of our mouths when we are in stressful situations.  And the more stressful the situation, the more unguarded or unfiltered the words seem to be and the quicker they seem to come out.

If we are seeking help because of our stressful situation and our words come out too quickly and too unguardedly, we often say the wrong things and run the risk of losing out on what we are seeking.

On top of that, if there are requisite conditions to be met in order to get help, our unguarded words could indicate an inability to meet the conditions.  For example, if I desperately need your help and your condition is that I proclaim my love for your daughter; if I say that I love her, I position myself to get the help I am looking for.  However, if I blurt out that I don’t love her or that I only like her, I’m sunk.

Let’s turn the tables a bit.  If you were the one who is setting the requisite conditions, how would you respond if they are not followed?  Many of us would probably just dismiss the request since the conditions were not met.

But look at how Jesus handled such a situation:

A man had an opportunity to bring his son to Jesus for healing.  The boy had been terribly unwell for years.  The man prefaced his request of Jesus to heal his son by saying “if you can do anything”.  Jesus responded with “If you can!  All things are possible for one who believes.” 

The requisite condition that Jesus seemed to establish was that the man needed to demonstrate faith in order to get help for his son.  But in his desperate situation, the man immediately blurted out:  “I believe, help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).

It could be argued that the father didn’t filter his words correctly and so he didn’t quite come up with the expected answer.  But rather than just dismissing the man, Jesus accepted the man’s wavering faith and healed his son. 

Filtered or not, in a way the man did us a big favor by blurting out words that encapsulate the age old tension between faith and unbelief.  While we would like to always have a firm “I believe”, doubts sometimes creep in and we end up with a squishy: “I believe, help my unbelief”.

Yet we can be assured that when we blurt out our unguarded words that might be indicative of our wavering faith, we can do so without fear that we will be dismissed!

 

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