Repent or Perish - Sin of Unbelief

To believe or not to believe, that is the question....Are you struggling with unbelief? Do you have areas of your life that you are not trusting God and instead believing man? Do you simply just need a refreshing in the Lord because of unbelief? Then consider the following scripture that mentions unbelief and how you should respond to thoughts that challenge your belief in God.

John 16:8-9 says:

"And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me..."

According to the scripture above, one of the first sins the Holy Spirit will convict (the meaning of the Greek word for "reprove") someone of is unbelief. Many do not believe in God at all. Some people who believe in God even have selective belief where they believe one thing in Scripture but not another. You can't expect to be saved or even grow in grace if you don't believe in God and His Word. Unbelief in God and His Word in any fashion is sin. Now when the Holy Spirit convicts you of unbelief, it may be in one or more areas however as you grow in grace you should be noticing belief in more areas.

Every area will not only include every part of God's Word but also every area of your life. Believing God is in control and should be influencing all parts of your life instead of just your home and church life is the target to aim for. For example, if the world says you don't need to give to others or if you do give it is only because someone gave to you first but God's Word says He loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7), then you should believe God and give when you are able and whether someone asks or not or even if giving is convenient or not (Proverbs 3:28). 

Another example of unbelief is when man says we evolved from simple life forms or the earth is millions of years old but God's Word says He created man in His image and created everything in 6 days (Genesis 1 and 2) and genealogy in Scripture supports thousands of years and not millions, you should believe God's Word instead of man's assumptions. 

A third example of unbelief is when the world says that if you need to relieve stress it is ok if you use profanity but God's Word says to put off "filthy communication out of your mouth" (Colossians 3:8), "Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones" (Proverbs 16:24), and if you have any burdens or anxiety God's Word says to cast ALL your cares upon Him for He cares for you (I Peter 5:7) and to come unto His Son Jesus and He will give you rest (Matthew 11:28), then you should believe God's Word is right and true and man's word is a lie.

I think that everyone struggles with unbelief at some point in their life. Whether it is deciding to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, if God is really capable of the things His Word claims, if Jesus is the only way to Heaven or even as a believer we may tend to trust and believe man's opinions and assumptions instead of believing fully in the Word of God. We all experience this type of sin in some fashion however we must realize that any unbelief or lack of trust in God's Word, abilities, power, forgiveness, or anything for that matter is not healthy for our soul. We must believe in Him to be saved and we must believe in Him and His Word to live a Holy life which will help others to be saved on this earth and ultimately one day reward us with an eternal home in Heaven. So if the Holy Spirit has shown you an area of unbelief in your life, please repent and change for the better!

This discussion series on sin is going to have the theme "Repent or Perish". Without repentance of sin (changing your mind and turning away from sin), each soul will perish (Luke 13:3, 5). I hope this series encourages and convicts through the Holy Spirit.