Unbelief Vs Disbelief

When the father of a young man possessed by devils asked Jesus for help, he pleaded, "help thou mine unbelief." It's important to note that the man said unbelief and not disbelief. To better understand the differences between unbelief and disbelief, let's examine a few other un-/dis- word pairs that have different meanings. The classic example is uninterested vs disinterested. Uninterested means you haven't yet found anything interesting in what is happening, whereas disinterested means you have made a conscious choice to divest or disavow any interest or bias in what is happening. If an estate is as yet uninherited, that means that the bequeather has not yet passed on nor given away their estate, but someone who has been disinherited has been legally removed from any possibility of receiving any portion of the estate. An unembodied spirit has never had a body, but a disembodied spirit is one who has lost their body. To be unsatisfied means that hopes and expectations have not yet been met, but to be dissatisfied means that a conscious decision has been made that satisfaction can not and will never come. Something unorganized has not yet been organized, but something disorganized has fallen into chaos through neglect or carelessness. We have unbelief when we walk into the darkness, hoping against hope to find the light. We have disbelief when we close our eyes and choose the darkness even when there is light. We have unbelief when we have planted seeds of faith that have not yet sprouted. We have disbelief when we uproot our growing plants of faith in frustration when they have not borne fruit yet. It is ok if we have unbelief. Unbelief is the unorganized matter from which we build our belief. Unbelief is the empty lamp that we can fill with oil and light. Unbelief is a blank stone tablet that the Lord can write His Commandments on. Unbelief is unrealized potential, unfulfilled promises, unmet expectations, unbounded opportunities. If we have unbelief then we ought to rejoice, for that means that we have many, many more wide open fields lying in wait for us to sow our seeds of faith.