November 29 I Tuesday

Ezekiel 35-36

2 Peter 1

“[Jesus] replied, ‘If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea,” and it will obey you.’”    —Luke 17:6

The first time I flew on a plane, I was 18 and flew from London to Zimbabwe. I was a little nervous, but not as nervous as the woman sitting in the window seat beside me. It was also her first time flying, and she spent most of the flight huddled in a ball, clutching the armrest. While I have to admit to occasionally clutching the armrest myself, I could not help but think what a waste of a window seat. In the aisle seat beside me was a businessman, totally relaxed and completely confident the plane would take him where he needed to go.

       The three of us had different amounts of faith. Having flown many times, the businessman had a watermelon-sized faith. I had a potato-sized faith with enough confidence to board the plane and offset my nervousness. The woman had faith the size of a mustard seed, just enough to be persuaded of a 51% chance of survival. Regardless of how much faith we had, we all exercised faith when we boarded the airplane and allowed it to take us to where we wanted to go.

       When the disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith in Luke 17, His response was that even if they had faith “as small as a mustard seed,” they would be able to do incredible things. We tend to think of faith in terms of quantity, as if Jesus were suggesting that greater faith would lead to even greater miracles, but this misunderstands the nature of faith. What matters is not the amount of faith we have, but that we place even the smallest amount of faith in Christ.

       We all face doubt in our lives. There are times we are uncertain of what God wants us to do or whether He even exists, but we should never think the amount of faith we have will affect God’s willingness to act. We can have 98% doubt about a promise God makes and only a 2% willingness to trust Him, but when we act on that 2%, however apprehensive we may be, God will still work at 100%.

       How much faith we have does not affect the measure of God’s faithfulness. This is because the amount of faith is not as important as the object we place our faith in. 2 Timothy 2:13 says of God, “…if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot disown Himself.” Whether a lifelong Christian who has seen God work hundreds of times or a new believer putting their trust in Him for the first time, God will always work in response to any amount of faith.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for always being faithful to me, even when I doubt. I trust You today to be my strength and sufficiency. Thank you, Lord.