Faith the size of a mustard seed… both Matthew (17) and Luke (17) talk about faith and our acting on it. Faith isn’t something that’s put on the shelf and only brought out when company comes, need arises. Faith IS active and working. And when you look at it… if you aren’t acting in faith then you probably are acting in fear. Romans (14:22) teaches us, “Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.” In another version ‘approve’ is stated as ‘believes’. The point in this is that though Paul was discussing eating food, his point is that faith needs to be the foundation for our words and actions.
Faith… in??? Scripture tells us that if we have faith even as small as a grain of mustard seed (the smallest of seed), that it will sustain us. That very small seed grows into a mighty tree. However, the larger question is – what is our faith in? Is it a who? Or is it a what? How is our faith defined for us. What do we do then to ‘grow’ our faith because it must grow and mature and strengthen. I recall a teaching that talked about ‘exercising’ our faith. But if we have misplaced our faith in terms of the foundation, then all the exercising in the world won’t accomplish anything of lasting effect.
In a Facebook post by The Gospel Coalition, they said:
“The smallest faith can save the greatest sinner. What matters most,
then, isn’t the intensity of your friend’s faith, but the object. Weak
faith in Jesus is infinitely greater than strong faith in anything else.
God isn’t calling your friend to believe in Christians, he’s calling him
to believe in Christ.”
Again, our misplaced emphasis on the wrong syllable. I would add that there are two other issues/mistakes. One is the expectation that if the new believer is an adult that they will know and act as a mature believer. Not. Just like every ‘new’, there are steps to be taken, lessons to be learned. Instant maturity is not realistic. We have a responsibility to not help the other person come to an understanding and acceptance of Jesus as their personal Lord… we also need to help them discover and grow as a new Christian – this takes time and effort. However, remember that The Great Commission instructs us to make disciples of others, not just get them saved. Salvation is the critical first step… but then there are more steps.
The other error is that new believers are often ‘promoted’ faster than their understanding. One may have the ability to be a great musician but it took practice to get to that state. The same is true for the Christian. Praise and Worship is more than just good musicianship – it takes learning what this is as well as understanding what the musician’s role is in promoting and leading others in praise and worship. This is true for any and all offices or positions in the church. (I would say that the one exception to this is that everyone should be encouraged to share their story of salvation. You never know who might be listening and needing their experience to help them in coming to the same decision for themselves.)
How does all this relate to faith? Faith is a personal journey. Your journey is important and it does provide your foundation for your Be-ing and Do-ing. You don’t just arrive and not move (grow). Faith is an active force that is far more important than most of us appreciate. Remember the message of Abram (who became Abraham as a result of his faith). He believed and it was accounted to him as righteousness (Genesis 15). Read again Hebrews 11, the great example of evidences of faith in action.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of
things not seen. (v 1)
But without faith it is impossible to please Him (God), for he who
comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder
of those who diligently seek Him.” (v 6)
