Mark 6:6a
And he marveled because of their unbelief.
The third barrier to the manifestation of Christ’s fulsome glory at Nazareth was UNBELIEF. The Nazarenes’ lack of faith literally prevented the mighty works Jesus intended to perform among them. Such is the horrible danger of unbelief! It’s NOT as harmless as some think.
Observe that our text says Jesus was surprised by the level of faithlessness he saw at Nazareth. He marvelled because it was unexpected. It wasn’t the logical thing to do. In God’s kingdom, faithlessness is abnormal.
Beloveds, do you know that we also can accept a life of unbelief as normal? We can easily become accustomed to a faithless lifestyle. Worse still, in our contemporary world, skepticism is rampant. To be a person of faith is becoming the exception rather than the rule. God forbid!
Observe that Scripture warns us: “Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12 NLT). This is in reference to the experience of some children of Israel who failed to enter the Promised Land because of their unbelief. That’s why the Bible says further, “So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief (Hebrews 3:19).
It’s significant that the Israelites’ unbelief disabled them from possessing the land God had promised them! That means their unbelief disqualified them from the blessings they had been delivered for. That’s because without faith it’s impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Dear saints, let us not allow unbelief to rob us of blessings God has already prepared for us. I pray that your faith and mine will remain strong under all circumstances.
Pastor Josh