Little Faith vs. Mustard Seed Faith

February 22, 2016

Little Faith vs. Mustard Seed Faith

Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith.

Matthew 17:19-20a NRSV

The great danger to our Christian life is all the distractions that cause us to take our eyes off of Jesus. We all know our country faces many very serious issues, yet if we watch the cat fights masquerading as political debates, we come away with more despair than hope. This is not unlike the situation Jesus encountered with his disciples and the healing of the epileptic child. (Matthew 17:14-20) The disciples had been empowered by Jesus to take his ministry of healing and hope to the people. They got distracted by the obstacles before them, and with their own self-interests, and became powerless.

It is so very vital today for Christianoi, the people of Christ, to hold firm to our faith in God. We are called to walk by faith, not sight. We are called to exercise   confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; to have assurance about things we cannot see. (Hebrews 11:1) “We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith” (Hebrews 12:2a)

I know the obstacles to the coming Kingdom of God seem insurmountable. To these obstacles, little faith says the problems are too big and we and our resources are so small. Instead of little faith, we can exercise mustard seed faith. Just last week one of the greeters at our church graciously welcomed a man to worship who had first connected with our community of faith through an outreach to our homeless neighbors. Our ministry has not yet made a dent in the homeless issues of our community, but last Sunday it made a difference to at least one man, to which mustard seed faith says, “Hallelujah, Praise God!”

To which Jesus replies, “Carry on!”  

Where there is faith

There is a voice calling, keep walking

You're not alone in this world

Where there is faith

There is a peace like a child sleeping

Hope everlasting in He who is able to

Bear every Burden, to heal every hurt in my heart

It is a wonderful, powerful place

Where there is faith

4Him

Where There Is Faith

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.