Not too long
ago, I went through some of the important parts of who we are as Christians and
challenged each of us to re-think different parts of Christianity. We looked at rethinking what it means to be a
Christian, what it means to be a steward, what it means to worship, what it
means to serve.
Today, I
want us to really consider what role our faith plays in our lives. I want to challenge you today to rethink
faith.
To begin,
let's look at just a few of the places where Jesus either commends for having
faith or scolds for lack of faith…
Matthew
8:9-10 – the centurion has great faith
Matthew
8:25-26 – disciples have not enough faith
Matthew
9:21-22, 28-29 – woman's faith is reason she is healed, blind men healed
according to their faith
Matthew
14:29-31 – Peter has faith but lets the circumstances take his faith away
Matthew
15:28 – woman's daughter is healed because of her great faith
Matthew
16:7-8 – disciples lack faith in what He is teaching them
Matthew
17:19-20 – Disciples receive a lesson on faith due to their lack
Notice a
theme in these verses. First, the
disciples seem to continuously lack faith.
They are the very ones who are walking with Jesus! They seem Him do incredible things day in and
day out. They experienced His
power. Yet, Jesus reminds them over and
over again that they lack faith.
We also see
many times that they are fearful, not fully given over to Him and sometimes
just seem to forget Who they are serving and following. They do lack faith on so many occasions. Yet, the people Jesus encounters have great
faith. They have the faith that can move
mountains, and it does. People receive
healing and their faith is reinforced.
We often say
we have faith, but seem to doubt God can do anything. We grow discouraged because things aren’t
going our way. We are reminded that just
because things are not like we want them, we are to be obedient and have faith
that God is in control and can handle anything we encounter.
God is
bigger than any problem we face, but it certainly is difficult to remember that
when we are in the storm…even though He has brought us through more storms that
we can even remember or imagine.
The people
Jesus commended believed in His power despite what others said or did. They knew that if they could just touch his
garment or get His attention or sit at His feet, things would change. They knew it beyond a shadow of a doubt. They knew it.
We forget
that we serve that same God…that can do anything. He may not do it our way, but He can do
it! We come to Him doubting or with
strong faith until the storms really kick up.
Then we are ready to throw in the towel and do things our way
That isn't
the God we serve. Our God never
fails. I don't know why things happen no
more than you do. But, I know that if we
put our whole faith in Him, things change.
Maybe our situation doesn't change, maybe it is us who changes. Maybe our situation does change. Maybe nothing seems to change at first and we
have to be diligent about coming before Him.
We also have
to be about His work. How dare we feel
like we have faith but aren't obedient.
If God calls us to do something, part of faith is that we do it. We do it because He gives us the strength and
the power to do it. There isn't anything
about us…it is all Him. But if we aren't
obedient, we are showing Him that we lack faith that He really can take care of
us.
So, do you
find yourselves with the people who had the faith or with the disciples who
were lacking? Where do you stand today?
