Growing Sizable Faith

Key Verse: “Truly I tell you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20 (NIV)

There have been times in my life I have been full of faith.  At least I like to think I was full of faith. It is easy to believe God is good when life is good. It is easy to feel strong and invincible boldly living out the faith journey when you aren’t knee-deep in the trenches with “why Lord” bullets and tears flying everywhere.  But let’s face it. Life is a battlefield most days.  And on those days, growing sizable faith doesn’t even seem possible.

There are days I am like Jairus when life becomes difficult. (Mark 5:21-43) Days like he had when his daughter lay sick and dying. Times when even though my situations look bleak, there rises within me a steadfastness.  A determination to press on and never accept defeat. Nothing can sway me from believing wholeheartedly in the mighty God I serve. 

However, I am not always Jairus in the story. Honestly, I have days I am more like the men that come to tell Jairus not to trouble the master any longer.  I can call my situations hopeless way too soon. I can be the one feeling it is too late for Jesus to fix my problems. I can also start putting my plans together to remedy my circumstances myself and, I can convince myself that I must accept what is and make the best of things.  

I can also be the one who walks away in the middle of the process that God takes me through to grow me. Growth is easy when the sun is shining and when the gentle rain is refreshing me. But my tiny mustard seed of faith also needs the dark of night to push it up through the hard soil. Nights, when it feels like morning, will never break. Mustard seeds also need to shed their seed coats in the growth process. They, too, will never grow if they are always clinging to what is comfortable and familiar. 

Beginnings are easy. The middle roads are doable if we have a mind to stay in the game. But, when you have passed that point of no return still not seeing land in the distance,  that’s where you learn the hard lesson of what having strong faith is all about. When your ship tosses in the tumultuous waves and you are taking water in as it crashes over the sides of your boat. When you are scared to death and everything in you screams to turn around and go back. When the winds have completely ripped your sails, and you have dropped your compass in the water.  When days are overwhelming and, you struggle to drop the anchor and be still.  Days like Paul referred to when he said after many days all hope was gone that we should be saved. (Acts 27:20)

Recently, I found myself confessing to God that I was like the men coming and telling Jairus not to trouble Jesus any longer because it looked to be no way out of my dilemma.  There was no longer any reason to hope for the situation to get better. I wanted to hang up my “I am full of faith sign.”  It was too heavy to carry it around any longer. 

Surprisingly, it was what I had needed to do all along. Surrender the sign and confess to the Lord I believe but help my unbelief.  Confessing your unbelief is not the same as having no faith at all.  Jesus was taking me deeper still. I had to come to the end of myself, yet again, so He could take me further in him. Growing my faith required letting go again of some familiar things. It was time to shed my seed coat and it required me to go through some dark of night as much as the rain and sun. 

He measures the faith he wants us to have for the journey he wants to take us on. Hard to believe paths require strong faith, the type that we don’t conjure up on our own. Sizable faith that is grown in the rich soil of God’s word and by the tender care of the Master Gardner’s hands.

We often quote Matthew 17:20 that says, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” We so often focus on having just the mustard seed of faith like that is all there is. But being a tiny mustard seed was not all there was to the story. 

God designed the mustard seed to be placed in rich soil and grow. God never intended for it to stay small but, instead, grow to be a small tree. It was to grow and have a purpose. It was to mature big enough for birds to settle in and gather and praise God together for the rain and sun. It was to be a place to raise their young and rest at night. To fulfill a purpose and become nourishment for others. 

We all have a measure of faith. Mustard seed size to branch size and every size in between.  The faith difference between Jairus and the men? Jairus’s faith took him to Jesus. The men’s faith brought them to Jairus. 

Who are you going to when life is hard? There is only one peace speaker.  There is also only one giver of hope. I have often been like the men that lost hope but, I desire to follow Jairus’s lead and go to Jesus. Jairus sought out Jesus to heal his daughter. I’m seeking healing for myself. Healing from a mindset that often gives up too easily.  I need to grow strong enough that I can help others find the healing they need. I need to grow strong enough faith to see some mountains of my own move. Anybody? 

So, I find myself asking hard questions while God is working to make me more like Jairus. We are all leaders leading someone.  Who are we leading others to seek out? Are we steering them to Jesus or away from Jesus? Are we pointing people to a miracle, or are we setting an example to accept less? Are we growing branches, or are we satisfied to continue to remain just a seed? 

So as for the good days, I will continue to believe. And on the difficult days, I will seek out the one who can help me believe even more. Seeds never turn into branches over night.  God is growing sizable faith within each of us. Faith that is grown in the trenches and sometimes watered by our own tears. Faith within each of us that is never satisfied to remain just a seed. 

See you in the Field,

Susan