Little Faith, pt.5

If you have work to be done that you can't do for yourself, you hire someone who can, right? For example, we hire carpenters to build our homes, remodel them, build cabinets, etc. We hire plumbers & electricians, auto mechanics. We hire hair stylists, dentists, doctors, and, I hope, photographers. For most of these things, we want someone who is well-trained, maybe even certified as a professional. Everyday, we recognize our own limitations, lay aside our desire to do for ourselves, and we "faith" those whose capabilities exceed our own. We trust that if they begin the task they will complete it skillfully and correctly. We often don't know them, and only hope they really have our best interests at heart. Yet we trust them. Does it not make even more sense to lay aside our efforts to perfect ourselves spiritually and put our faith in the One who created us and saved us, to complete us as well? Is it not reasonable faith to trust the One who loved us enough to die for us, to complete that which He began in us, and do it right, and do it for our benefit?


"Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him," Heb.11:6. Jeremiah29:11-13 tell us that God's plans for us are for our welfare, not for calamity, but to give us a future and a hope. The passage concludes: "And you will seek Me and you will find Me when you search for Me with all your heart."  It is necessary to believe not only that God exists, but that when you seek Him, He will be found. When you ask Him for life, He has provided it through Christ, and will give it to you. When you need strength for daily living, He will be that strength for you. When you need patience, He will give it. When you need steadfastness in your Christian walk, He has made a way. When you need love for someone you find difficulty loving, He Himself is love and will make love alive inside you. Our part is to die to our own desires, accept our own inadequacy for the task, and turn to the One who made us, who makes us adequate, and who desires to complete us.

When Jesus came off the mountain of transfiguration He asked His disciples, "How long shall I be with you?" The question may have come from His awareness that His time on earth was drawing to an end, and the faith of His disciples was still "little," with no viable signs of growth. Yet, if they just had faith "as" a mustard seed - willing and yielded to God to grow as a mustard seed grows - they could move mountains. It is the faith of a seed that is totally dependent on God for its growth. It is faith that is willing to die to what it is in order to become all that it is meant to be. It is faith like a blade of grass that grows up through asphalt or the tiniest crack in concrete. It is the tender shoot that pushes up from under a rock to reach for the sun. It starts small. It is still faith, even though it is small. But mustard seed faith does not remain small! It grows strong, giving glory to God!