How much faith is enough?

First, hello to everyone ... it has been a little quiet around here recently. Last week at BASIC we had a discussion about where we stand in our faith lives. I heard from many people that they feel that their faith lives are in a good place, others I heard that they feel like their faith life could use some work. In today's culture it seems like we are constantly being bombarded with messages that urge us to get more of something or bigger is better. So the question arises, how much faith is enough?

First, lets look at what faith is and how its defined. According to Merriam-Webster (the dictionary) faith has the following definition:

1. allegiance to duty or a person

2. fidelity to one's promises

3. sincerity of intentions

4. belief and trust in and loyalty to God

5. belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion

6. firm belief in something for which there is no proof

7. complete trust

8. something that is believed especially with strong conviction, especially a system of religious beliefs

Another way to illustrate what faith is, is by the following story I was once told (and now I'm passing it on to you). There were a group of spectators gathered at Niagara Falls watching a stunt artist cross the falls on a tightrope while pushing a wheelbarrow full of bricks. The stunt artist made several passes across the tightrope with the wheelbarrow. The stunt artist then turned to the crowd and asked if anyone in the crowd felt that he could perform the same stunt with a person in the wheelbarrow instead of bricks. A man in the crowd spoke up and said that he believed that the stunt artist could do it. The stunt artist then told the man to get in the wheelbarrow. Faith is not just saying that you believe in something; faith is getting in the wheelbarrow.

The next question that comes up when talking about faith is, how much faith is enough? To answer this let's turn to scripture. Two passages come to mind when asking this question, both of which deal with a mustard seed. First, in Matthew 17:20 Jesus says "if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you." Second, in Luke 17:5-6 the apostles ask Christ to increase their faith, and Christ responds, "If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and be planted in the sea'; and it would obey you." In order to grasp the meaning of these passages its good to know how truly small a mustard seed is, below is a bunch of mustard seeds next to a penny, you can see how very small they are:

In the first passage from Matthew the apostles are attempting to cast out a demon from a possessed man. Their attempts to do so were unsuccessful, Jesus then came and cast the demon out. When the apostles asked why they were unable to cast the demon out Jesus responded that they did not have enough faith. The apostles didn't believe that they could cast out the demon, however they didn't realize that they were not the ones casting out the demon, it was God who was casting out the demon.

At BASIC events we don't go around saying "With God all things are possible" because its catchy, we say it because its true. If we have the smallest bit of faith that through God and with God we can do anything, that we can move mountains - then we can, because truly with God all things are possible.

God is good all the time!

PS ... Don't forget about the ongoing canned food drive, bring in your cans to BASIC on Sunday nights. If you want to go on Fast - a - Thon make sure you get your permission slips filled out and turned in ASAP ... if you are already signed up for Fast - a - Thon don't forget to keep getting pledges.

See you all Sunday