You Have Enough Faith…But Where Is It?

Have you ever wished you had more faith?  Hey, we’ve all been there.  As a  Christian we often assume when prayers go unanswered the problem stems from that old age question Jesus seemed to keep asking his disciples;

“Where is your faith?”

Our knee jerk response to that question is then to think we don’t have any (or enough) and we desperately cry out to God for more. “Oh please Lord, give us more faith” (Often best done with hands in the air and an anguished look on the face)

The only problem with that scenario is you don’t need more faith!

A Measure of Faith

Ok, I’m not a math expert but lets try some simple math.

but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

Romans 12:3

So according to Romans, God has given you a measure (or serving) of faith. Everyone gets some! You have your faith now?

Good!

So then…

Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a 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

The mustard seed is like, the smallest seed there is.  And Jesus says if your faith is at that level you can do the impossible!

So back to the math…

Your measure of faith + the smallest amount of faith needed = Doing the Impossible!

It’s like God gives you a dollar which doesn’t seem like much; but then he sends you into a store where everything costs a dollar!

Even better, after you spend your dollar, you get it back…with change! (Answered prayer always seems to increase faith!)

So Where is Your Faith?

The question now is not “do I have enough faith?” (You do!) but “where am I putting the faith I have?”

In Luke 8, Jesus asks his disciples to join him in a boat and head to the other side of the sea.

One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out.  As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.

 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!”

He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples.

We always think the disciples didn’t have enough faith…that somehow they needed more.  But as we saw from Romans, they have all they need!

Jesus is asking, “Hey, that faith I gave you; where did you place it?”

See, Jesus was at rest even through the biggest storm because he knew his Father was sending him to the other side.  Jesus’ faith, the measure he had, was firmly placed in the trust of the Father.

And with that faith came rest!

The disciples placed their faith somewhere else.  They were fishermen…

They knew about boats!

They knew about storms!

They knew what storms did to boats!

Being long time fisherman they probably knew a sailor or two that had died in a storm just like they were in at that moment.

And they chose to put their faith there…in that experience!  They chose to put their faith not in what Jesus had told them, but in their own experience of how the natural world worked.

And it produced fear, anxiety, and accusation!  (Jesus don’t you care?)

We all have a dollar to spend in a store where everything costs a dollar.

We all have all they faith we need… but where is it?

“Where is your faith?”