[The broadcast of the Sunday worship celebrations of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, is the longest continuing live radio show in Ohio. I'm the pastor of Saint Matthew and thanks to the efforts of a Saint Matthew member, Tony Funk, we broadcast live again yesterday in spite of a Level 3 snow emergency which had necessitated the cancellation of worship. At the beginning of the broadcast on which the Bible lessons were read and I shared the sermon, we asked listeners to email any questions they might have. This is one of the questions that came in.]
The first thing to realize about faith is that it's a gift from God. "No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit," Paul writes in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 12:3).
It's God Who builds and sustains faith in us. But God only does this in particular kinds of people. To understand what "kinds of people" I'm referring to, think of a baseball or softball outfielder. The outfielder has no control of the pitch thrown from the mound or how the batter hits the ball. But to field hit balls, outfielders can position themselves to receive them. In just the same way, we can position ourselves to receive faith in Jesus Christ or to grow in that faith.
Among the ways we do this are daily prayer and daily reading of the Bible, God's Word for us. Another way to position ourselves to receive faith or growth in faith is to participate regularly in worship with other believers (even if they sometimes rub us the wrong way). And, we should receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion. That's because, as He promises, Jesus is truly present in the bread and wine of Communion. In the Sacrament, Christ actually enters us and in some mysterious way, builds up our faith.
Prayer, God's Word, worship, the fellowship of the Church, and Holy Communion, along with Holy Baptism, among other things, are what we call means of grace, tools God uses to give faith to those ready to receive it.
I would advise that we pay attention to these means of grace and not worry too much about how large or small our faith is. One of my favorite prayers in the New Testament involved a father who approached Jesus for help with his son, who was filled afflicted with a demon.
The father's faith was small and tentative. "If you are able to do anything," he says to Jesus, "have pity on us and help us.”
Jesus responds, "“If you are able! —All things can be done for the one who believes.”
With an honesty that touches me every time I read his words, the father tells Jesus, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
What's noteworthy here is that Jesus doesn't demand a bigger or deeper faith of the man. Jesus doesn't tell the man to come back when he trusts Jesus more. Jesus sees that the man trusts as much as he is able and, as it turns out, his tiny faith in a big God is all that's needed. Jesus honored the man's prayer, offered from an admittedly small faith, and the boy was healed. (Mark 9:14-29)
Jesus once said, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.cast out the demon.'" (Luke 17:6)
Don't worry about the size of your faith. Little faith in the great big God of the universe is all you need. And, as you position yourself to receive faith and to receive growth in faith, both of them gifts from God, God will increase your faith, often without your even realizing it. Be attentive to the means of grace and God will build and sustain a growing faith in Jesus within you.
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