Faith. Do I really have it?
I know that I trust God. My heart is confident of His goodness…that He works everything for good.
But faith goes beyond simple trust, doesn’t it? It’s more than knowing everything will be okay. It is wholeheartedly believing that something amazing can and will happen. Something impossible. Something unbelievable.
In Matthew 21, Jesus explains to His disciples that, when they truly have faith, and no doubt, they can do anything. They can even move MOUNTAINS.
Mountains.
I don’t think He’s speaking metaphorically, as so many of us like to imagine. No, I think Jesus is speaking quite literally of walking up to a mountain, telling it to get out of the way, and watching it go! Hard to imagine? Are you trying to picture it?
What about the parting of the Red Sea? Pillars of fire? Sleeping lions? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walking unscathed out of a fiery furnace? A man born blind seeing? He did all of those things, and more. He rose from the dead! Why does it seem crazy to us that He could literally move a mountain?
So what would you do if you had that kind of faith?
Personally, I would see my lost friends come to Christ and live passionately and joyfully for Him. Yes, even the ones who hate everything to do with church. Yes, that guy that parties like nobody’s business and the one who makes fun of me for believing in God. All of them.
I’d see my parents give up smoking.
I’d see every need provided for, regardless of job or income or status.
I’d see a generation of people standing boldly for Christ and changing the world for the better. Loving each other like we were called to do, instead of getting caught up in trivial things that hold us back. Unified, not divided.
I’d see myself leading someone to the Lord for the first time.
I would wait patiently for the amazing plan God has for my life, as He continues to slowly reveal it to me in His perfect timing.
There are so many things that I feel I pray for that I don’t fully believe God will do. But I realized something this week…nothing is too difficult for Him! I knew it all along, but did I really believe it? Did I really have faith that the God who created the universe wants to do something amazing in and through my life? That He loves me that much?
I think I am finally starting to. I have such a long way to go, but boy am I starting to understand.
18 In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. 19 And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, ”May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.
20When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?”21And Jesus answered them, ”Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain,’Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. 22And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” -Matthew 21:18-22
