So, the more I read in the Bible about faith the more it makes sense to me that Jesus “could not” do anything in his own area. It’s not that he was hindered because of their lack of faith, but because they didn’t believe that he could do it he refused to do the work. When Jesus would go to other areas they didn’t know him from anyone and only had heard of him as the great healer or prophet so they immediately had faith in him and his ability. His family and those in his area did not believe it was possible because to them he was just the son of a carpenter who had some sort of religious experience. Jesus acts in our life through our trust in him that he can do the work necessary. We are saved by that trust and, as a natural man, that kind of trust is impossible. It is the Holy Spirit who, upon his entering us, enables us to finally hope that someone CAN take away the consequences of our sins as well as the guilt and the full record of them and it is the Holy Spirit that drives us toward Jesus and presents him as the one who DID that for us. The process of salvation makes a lot more sense to me now. Realizing this, it drives me even crazier when I think of “easy believism” – it’s not about believing, it’s about trusting as if your life depended on it because ultimately, it does.