Enough faith?

June 2, 2009

Dear Fellow Travelers,
Yes, I took a month’s Sabbatical from writing my perspectives; sometimes, one needs to regroup, to clear his mind, to refocus, to rid himself of the cobwebs, to rethink his perspective. Since several of you have contacted me, wondering why you weren’t receiving my ramblings, I am back, at least for a while. Hopefully, this “season” of my ramblings will be meaningful to you.
Anyway, this is what Jesus said to the woman with the “issue of blood”: “Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well” (Matthew 9:22). This is what the woman was thinking before Jesus said those words: “If I only touch His garment, I shall get well” (Mat-thew 9:21).
Have you noticed how often we place the emphasis on faith, rather than of Jesus? For some reason, the message has been, “If you have enough faith, you can get anything you want.” In other words, the more faith one has, the greater the possibility of his receiving want he wants from God. Ironically, however, Jesus said this in response to the disciples asking Him why they could not cast the demon out of the young boy (see Matthew 17:14-19): “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there, and it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you.’ But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:21).
Notice that Jesus made it clear that faith is necessary. The “littleness of their faith” was apparently the problem, but His following comment indicates that their “littleness of faith” was no faith at all! If faith as a mustard would have been sufficient, then obviously, their “littleness of faith” was really no faith (the last time I checked, a mustard seed is SMALL!). In other words, Jesus was not diminishing the importance of faith; instead, He was making it very clear that apart from faith, we are in heaps of trouble. Keep in mind that the though a mustard seed is SMALL, it is powerful—very powerful—as is evidenced by its fruit.
From my perspective, if faith as a mustard seed is sufficient to move mountains, then quantity is not the issue; the issue is the object of one’s faith. For example, you might have faith the size of a mountain in Allah’s ability to heal the sick, but you can rest assured that the sick will remain sick. However, you can have faith the size of a mustard seed in Jesus’ ability to raise the dead, and, if He desires to raise the dead—up they will come!
In my opinion, this was the secret of the woman’s healing—her mind was centered on Jesus, not on how much faith she had or didn’t have. The truth is this: she was tired and weary from having done everything she knew to do, even spent all of her money on doctors, and all to no avail. In other words, her faith was definitely of the “mustard seed” variety. It was sufficient, however, because her focus was on Jesus, not on her faith, or the lack thereof.
This should be quite a relief for those of us who have been convinced that Jesus’ response to our requests is directly related to our having much faith. Actually, much faith is only the size of a mustard seed, and even that is His gift to us! Why, if He should give us faith the size of a golf ball, there is no telling the chaos we would produce.
Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Blessings,
Mac