“I’m not interested in whether you’ve stood with the great… I’m interested in whether you’ve sat with the broken.” – Charles Bukowski, American Author
What does Jesus mean when he talks about having little faith?
Matthew 17:14-21 ~ The Power of Faith
When Jesus reached the crowd, a man approached and knelt down before Him. “Lord,” he said, “have mercy on my son, because he has seizures and suffers severely. He often falls into the fire and often into the water. I brought him to Your disciples, but they couldn’t heal him.”
Jesus replied, “You unbelieving and rebellious generation! How long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.” Then Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and from that moment the boy was healed.
Then the disciples approached Jesus privately and said, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
“Because of your little faith,” He told them. “For I assure you: If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. [However, this kind does not come out except by prayer and fasting.]”
Like the crowds in Jesus’ day, we often think that if we are a good enough Christian, if we believe, if we are confident, if we are strong, if we do all the right things, God will be pleased with us and grant our requests. We even tell ourselves, “If we just had enough faith, we would be a better person.”
This is not what Jesus is saying, but quite the opposite. The focus should not be on ourselves and what we can do, but on God. The crowds at that time had no understanding of who God truly was. They did not take God seriously. It is the same for many of us today.
God wants us to have the faith of a humble heart. One who says, “I need God. I can’t do this by myself. I’m going to trust God no matter what the outcome may be, because I know God cares for me and He can do a better job at this than I ever could. I’m going to stop trying so hard on my own.” And then see where that takes you.
Spend time with God every day. Get to know Him and His ways.
Take time to rest in the warmth of God’s Presence.
