Oh Ye of Little Faith

Faith is important. I think we all know that, but sometimes we need a little reminder of why, how, where.

The classic biblical reference for the topic of faith is Hebrews 11, with the star of the show typically being verses 1, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen," and 6, "And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him."

That being said, now we have to address the nuances of our faith. I like this analogy I learned at church:

Imagine a frozen lake. You're standing aside, and you want to get on. You're scared and are skeptical that the ice will hold you up, but muster a little faith to step out unto it. Even though you only have a little faith, because the ice is by its own nature thick enough to hold your weight, you'll be safe and won't fall through. On the other hand, if you're super confident and walk right onto it but the ice is only an inch thick, no matter how much faith you have, because the object of your faith is not able, you will fall through.

From this, we can see that the most important aspect of faith is who or what we place it in. Because we know that God is everlasting and omnipotent, He will never fail when we put our faith in Him, even if it's little.

Jesus echoes the same idea in Matthew 17:20, "He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”"

The gospels are packed with stories of people who were healed because of their faith, like the centurion with the sick servant (Matthew 8:5-13), the woman with the issue of blood (Matthew 9:20–22; Mark 5:25-34; Luke 8:43-48), the Canaanite woman at Tyre & Sidon with the possessed daughter (Matthew 15:21-31), the friends of the paralyzed man who lowered him through the roof (Matthew 9:1-8; Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-26), and many more!

While faith enables us to work with God, our lack of faith can hinder His plans. A classic example is the case of Jesus in Nazareth. Matthew 13:58 says, "And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief."

In the story of Jesus walking on water, Peter walked out of the boat onto the water as well to meet Jesus, but when his faith got corrupted by doubt, he began to sink.

Matthew 14:28-31:

And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind,[e] he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

A line from the story of Jesus healing two blind men in Matthew 9:27-31 struck me. Jesus said in v. 29, “According to your faith let it be done to you.” I wonder, if God would handle everything in our lives according to the faith that we have regarding it, what would our situations look like? Maybe we can turn it around and say, "according to what you want to be done to you, have that faith."

Peace and love of Christ be with you all!