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 (Luke 17:6).
The Bible describes faith as: … the realization of what is hoped for, the proof of things not seen (LEB).
Yet our minds are trained to believe only what they can discern with the senses, i.e., what they can see, hear, smell, touch or taste. So, to fathom that what we hope for can exist apart from what we see, makes people shut down. Yet, everyday we live by faith, whether we consider ourselves a religious person or the most rational being on earth.
When we flip a light switch, we are expecting the lights to go on, but we cannot see that in action. When we enter a room in which we’ve never been, we have no problem sitting on a chair in that room and believing that the chair will hold up our weight. Yet we have never sat in the chair before in our lives, so how do we know it will? When we make an appointment for next week to get our hair cut, we are believing that there will be a next week, yet we can’t see it. We don’t even have the assurance that the sun will actually come up tomorrow if we are basing it solely on what we can see. And when we step up to an altar and pledge our lives to a spouse, we are making the guarantee that in spite of not knowing the future – for better or worse – we are going to remain faithful. How presumptuous of us is that?
For something as radical as faith – believing without seeing – it is as common as two plus two is four. So, why does it become such an obstacle to the human heart to believe in a God we cannot see? Why do we have such pause as a race of created beings to accept the outlandish love of our Creator?
I don’t think the problem lies in faith. I think it lies in hope. Most people are not willing to hope for a God that loves them so deeply that He would give His only Son to die for us so that we could have a hope of life beyond this world. They have been worn down by a life of disappointment and are unwilling to risk putting their faith in the hope of Heaven. This problem has been around for a very long time. Even in Isaiah’s day, people had to be encouraged to hope in God:
… Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed (Isaiah 49:23b).
When we are able to adjust our hearts to hope in God, it takes next to no faith at all to believe Him. With as little thought as flipping a light switch, we can light up an entire stadium. And with the equivalent faith of a mustard seed, we can ignite our hearts to believe God – if our hope has been firmly anchored in Him.
When we encounter people who do not believe in God, we need to remember that faith is not the problem. They are able to believe in things they cannot see and do so every day. We must address the real issue – they have been so disappointed by life that they are unable to see a God who does not disappoint.
This is a sobering reality for my own life because I realize that there are many times I find myself doubting God. As I examine my heart through the filter of this truth, I now realize that when I find myself doubting God, it is not because I lack faith, but because I have transferred my hope from God to something or someone else. For instance, when I have a concern over money – is my hope in the financial system of this world or God? A concern over my future – is my hope in circumstances or a Sovereign God; a concern over my relationship with my husband, is my hope in my own inadequate ability to do relationship or in a God who knows our every thought?
I am going to exercise faith in one way or another today. I must make sure that my faith is connected to a hope that is anchored in God and nothing else or I may find myself extremely disappointed.
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