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"The apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase our faith!' And the Lord said, 'If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, "Be uprooted and planted in the sea," and it would obey you.'" (Luke 17:5-6 ESV)
Okay, this bugs me. The disciples ask Jesus to increase their faith, and what does He say in return? "If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed," you could do this and that marvelous thing. But they aren't doing those things right now, are they? So what does that say about the size of their faith? It looks remarkably like Jesus is saying, "You think your faith is small? You're right. It's even smaller than a mustard seed!" Which doesn't seem very helpful.
That may be unfair of me. After all, the disciples actually did do miracles when they were out on their preaching trips. They also did them after Jesus died and rose again, during the days of the brand-new Christian church. So maybe I'm reading this wrong.
But what it also says to me is that the size of our faith might not be the most important thing to worry about. The real question is, who do we have faith in? If we have monumentally huge faith, but it's in the wrong god—a false god, an idol of any kind—well, that does nobody any good. But if we have tiny, tiny faith—smaller than a mustard seed, barely enough to be called "faith" at all—as long as that faith is in Jesus, that is all that matters. The Holy Spirit will do His work in our hearts, and eventually we will grow. But even from the tiniest beginning, we belong to Jesus—saved by His death on the cross, made alive forever by His resurrection power.
And so when Jesus refers to us as "you of little faith," I will maybe hang my head a bit and blush. But He still has His hands around me, and around you, and everyone who trusts in Him—even the littlest of us. And He is great enough to keep us forever, this Savior who gave His own life for us, to make us God's again.
Prayer: Dear Lord, keep my faith centered in You, and cause me to grow in You. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo
Originally published in The Lutheran Hour on September 29, 2022
Used by permission from International Lutheran Laymen’s League, all rights reserved
Reflection Questions:
1. Just for smiles, what size would you rate your own faith at?
2. Do you think it has grown since you first belonged to Jesus?
3. How has God worked to increase your faith in Him?
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