"You have so much faith, Tim" say the faithless...
Can faith be measured? How do you know at which point you can say "I have faith enough."
Knowing that we can never have enough faith.
Matthew said it best,
Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, "May you never bear fruit again!" Immediately the tree withered.
When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. "How did the fig tree wither so quickly?" they asked.
Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."
You can find that in chapter 21.
We know simply by the fact that it is Jesus speaking that it is true. And it takes faith in the beginning to believe his words. We have all read this so many times and gone onto the next verse. For some reason, this time reading it for me blew me out of the water. "I haven't seen any mountains with the top missing because of faith," I told myself. Now there is a mountain just out side of Semaipata, Bolivia, right next to the Incan ruins with it's top missing, but since they were a child-sacrificing, heathen-god-serving group of immoral natives, I doubt this is evidence of faith in Yahweh. Maybe just lots of muscles. The point is this: why are we all so faithless? I pray with clenched fists that I could have enough faith to make one leaf wither and fall from a tree. And though if I look at a leaf, I laugh at my lack of belief.
There are different takes we can have on this. We can say, "Well, Jesus is just teaching us that if God wants us to do something, with faith, we can do it... if it is strictly His will." Others might say, "Well the tree didn't produce fruit for Jesus, and he had the power to decide it's future simply by faith, whether or not it be for the Kingdom of God." For me, both seem to make a good point. "God has plans to prosper us." He has plans! We know that! But Jesus chose to curse the tree. And because he had faith (and because he is God) the tree indeed fell by the curse.
Why don't I see any mountain-tops in the sea?!
I have asked God in faith to show me that He is with me and in control, and He showed me indeed! If you remember from my first blog, I asked God to send an animal to touch me as a sign of His watching over me, and 10 minutes later, as soon as there were witnesses, a dove landed on my head! God is good! I have seen Him at work in this and in the lives of the people I meet, and in my own life as well! What God has done in my life puts nothing but confirmation of His presence!
But I can still do nothing beyond what an atheistic high school science teacher can do as far as walking on water goes.
Jesus told Peter that he had so little faith, and yet Peter walked on water! Ignoring the fact that he fell and started to drown, no doubt, he did something impossible. But it was possible with God, and he did it! Not because it furthered the Kingdom of God, but because he had faith. I don't wish to walk on water to show people how awesome I am, but I would indeed enjoy walking on water, knowing that by the Power of God, I can do anything! Why do I doubt? How can I doubt?
This will drive me either insane or to the point of radical faith in the one I love more than I can explain, and who loves me far enough beyond how much I can love to the point beyond what I can imagine and beyond what my mind can even bear.
Please pray for yourselves and for my faith.
Please comment.
Let's go kill some trees.
