Increase Our Faith

July 26

(Luke 17:5-6 NIV) “The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" {6} He 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.”

(Colossians 2:6-15 NIV) “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, {7} rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. {8} See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. {9} For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, {10} and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. {11} In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, {12} having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. {13} When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, {14} having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. {15} And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

You may have heard Christians say, “If you just have enough faith, God can do miracles in your life.” This statement implies that miracles won’t happen if your faith is small. That is really bad theology. The quality of our faith and the object of our faith are more important than its size. Jesus taught that faith the size of a mustard seed could uproot trees and move a mountain, when that faith is placed in the Lord. Miracles depend upon the power and will of God more than the size of a person’s faith. But faith is like a muscle -- it only grows when it is exercised. God grows our faith by giving us situations in which we must exercise our faith. Mature and persevering faith comes from having our faith tested over and over again. Therefore we should echo the disciple’s prayer: “Lord, increase our faith.” But we should also be willing to accept the method God uses to bring the increase. -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day