Do You Have Enough Faith To Move Mountains?
Good Morning Friends,
Today’s scripture sets the standard high and then we see how the disciples fall short and initially I was not sure whether this was comforting or disturbing. But then I found it encouraging. You see the laws must be written on our hearts and we are not in control of them, so we need God to help us love. And when we have even a little faith to love miracles happen. Do You Have Enough Faith To Move Mountains?
Scripture: Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. When the Lord your God has brought you into the land that he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—a land with fine, large cities that you did not build, houses filled with all sorts of goods that you did not fill, hewn cisterns that you did not hew, vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant—and when you have eaten your fill, take care that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. The Lord your God you shall fear; him you shall serve, and by his name alone you shall swear.
Deuteronomy 6:4-13 (NRSV)
When they came to the crowd, a man came to him, knelt before him, and said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; he often falls into the fire and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.” Jesus answered, “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him here to me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”
Matthew 17:14-20 (NRSV)
speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures.
2 Peter 3:16 (NRSV)
Message: We are saved through faith. We stand by faith. Christ dwells in our hearts through faith. We are to fight for faith so that others might believe. The disciples longed for more faith to do great things for God but Jesus tells them that they are missing the point of it all. People misinterpret scripture on this very point with bad results. But Jesus points the way to the truth. Even just a tiny bit of faith can help us believe in something that none of our senses individually experience. We are prone to think if we just had more faith, then God could do amazing things through us. But Jesus tells us something quite astonishing. Jesus tells us that all we need is a little bit of faith and the barriers blocking us from moving mountains can be removed. But first we must look to God and we must also walk with God. We must love. The issue is not whether we are full of faith but whether we have any faith. If we have the smallest amount of faith, God works on our behalf. Jesus stops his disciples short and asks them: Do you believe in me at all? Do you trust God at all? And this answer, after reflection, is really encouraging because it allows us to focus on God and not whether we have enough of whatever to accomplish what needs to be done on our own. A small amount of faith is sufficient because the focus is not on our faith but on love. It is not because of the quantity of our faith but the object of our faith. If our faith is in God, then it has a great effect. Our faith makes a difference not because it is so great but because God is so great. This faith sanctifies us and frees us so that we can rely on Christ and not our own strength and works. Mustard seed faith is enormously powerful—not because of our faith, but because it unites us to the God who raised Jesus Christ from the dead. A mustard seed faith produces the fruit of the Spirit. Like the seed the self must die so that something better might live. And so, the clearest evidence of mustard seed faith is whether we love God and love our neighbors.
Pray we have the courage to speak out. Pray we have the conviction to obey God. Pray we have the fortitude to confront what needs to be done. Pray we begin to believe differently when it comes to how much faith we need. Pray we steward the faith we have, believing that even the faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains. Pray in faith we persevere. Pray in the promises of God to the glory of God. Pray we understand the power of love.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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