By David ReayFriday 23 May 2014LifeWords DevotionalsFaithReading Time: 0 minutes
Transcript:
Read Luke 17:5-6
5 The apostles said to the Lord,”Show us how to increase our faith.”
6 The Lord answered,”If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed,you could say to this mulberry tree,’May you be uprooted and thrown into the sea,’ and it would obey you! (NLT)
We don’t need bucketloads of faith: a little bit of faith is enough. This is so because God’s purposes depend on his own greatness not the greatness of our faith. This is why Jesus refuses to ‘quantify’ faith. It is the object of faith which matters most,not the quantity of faith we have. Lots of faith in a fraudulent person or a fanciful myth won’t do us any good.
However,we must not lose sight of another dimension to faith. True,we only need mustard-seed faith,but that little mustard seed actually grows into a large shrub. Our faith may only be small but it can grow. Not in some crude,quantitative sense,but rather it becomes stronger as it is exercised more.
If our muscles or joints are weakened,some exercise might be recommended for them. Simply not using them because of some difficulties will not make them better and can actually make them worse. So it is with our faith. We don’t need a lot,but we do need to exercise what we have. The more we use it,the stronger it becomes. It may only be seed-like faith,but seeds contain the potential for growth and the promise of new life.
Blessings
David Reay