The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
Interesting exchange – the disciples ask for bigger faith; and Jesus seems to rebuke them for how little they have. We'll have to look at that more closely. But first, I was wondering what prompted them to ask for more faith. What happens just before this passage in Luke 17? Here’s what I found:
“If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”
Ah – I think I would ask for more faith too! Who wants to forgive again and again? The disciples are right in thinking that, if that’s what Jesus is asking for, they need more faith.
How about you? Is there anyone in your life who’s hard to forgive – or who gives you waaaay more “opportunities” to forgive than you’d like? Where does faith come into it?
Well, faith allows us to see the bigger picture – maybe to not get so hooked by the people who sin against us. Faith allows us to let God be the judge, instead of taking that role ourselves. Faith gives us the eyes to see that person with compassion, even as we hold them to the standards we ourselves want to be held to. (Yeah, that was a tricky one…)
We’ll talk about mulberry trees tomorrow. Today, let’s join the disciples in their prayer, “Lord, increase our faith.”
Tell Jesus what areas of your life you feel your faith is the weakest; where you feel most challenged. And name the parts of your life where you feel faithful. Some of us feel faithful about finances but not about our children; or we trust God fully with health, but not work. Give thanks for the places where your faith is strong, and ask Jesus for more in the places you feel your faith goes out from under you, like a trick knee.
Ask the Spirit to fill you with the power and presence and peace of Christ.
Some of us have been taught it’s not polite to ask for stuff, or to ask for “more.”
Well, that’s not true in the Life of God – there are some “more” prayers that God delights to answer.
I’m betting “more faith” is one of them…
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