Wednesday, January 31, 2024
“The simple truth is that if you had a mere
kernel of faith, a poppy seed, say, you would tell this mountain, ‘Move!’ and
it would move. There is nothing you wouldn’t be able to tackle.” (Matthew 17: 29, The Message Bible)
My Lego project, a British double-decker bus, had been going very well.
But, then, I couldn’t get a small piece to attach to the back of the bus. I tried
and tried. I tried to force it a little but it still wouldn’t hold in place. I
spent twenty minutes trying to solve the problem to no avail. The similar piece
on the other side fit perfectly. It was quite frustrating. I was about to go
and get the crazy glue when I noticed that there was a tiny, little piece – smaller
than my pinky fingernail - that was missing. Once I had it in its proper place
the obstinate piece snapped right in.
All for the want of a tiny piece
of Lego.
It is all in the details. Sometimes,
it is the little things that count or matter. It is the little particulars that
help make the big things work out better. We are probably more familiar with Jesus’
saying that if we had the faith the size of a mustard seed, we could
move mountains. What he is saying, in part, is that our strength comes from paying
attention to finding the little pieces
that put our faith to work in our lives.
It is easy to lose touch with
our faith. Faith can sometimes shrink because of our lack of attention. It becomes
detached from our lives – goes missing. But we need faith, our trust in God, to
help make the bigger life picture take shape and hold together.
O you of little faith, an
exacerbated Jesus would sometimes lament.
Now, unfortunately, some people
have used Jesus’ words about the poppy seed or mustard seed faith to criticize
others for their falsely-perceived lack of faith in the face of crises and calamities.
It is very mean-spirited when one is facing, let’s say, the serious illness or dying
of a loved one. It is a cruel use of this
text and makes the other person feel like a failure when their faith doesn’t get
the results they had hoped or prayed for. Or it makes God a failure.
But that is not Jesus’
intent. Quite the opposite. Jesus is telling
us not to give up even in the direst of situations. He is affirming that even
the smallest flicker of faith can make a difference in our struggles, in our
challenges, in our trials and tribulations. Sure, we always need to find ways
to increase our faith, to grow and mature in our faith, but I don’t think God has
a faith meter in which we need to measure a minimum level before God cares.
Jesus is letting us know that even
in the toughest situation, the smallest flicker of faith that seeks out God finds
an encouraging, uplifting, loving response from God. “There is nothing you
wouldn’t be able to tackle.”
But it also challenges us with the
question about what is missing in our lives? What small piece of our spiritual make-up is
missing or needs to be found and added so that our whole faith is up to the tasks
at hand? It is one thing to keep the spark of faith alive but it is another
when we let our faith atrophy all-together because we have ceased to pay
attention to the details that keep it alive and healthy. Prayer. Scripture reading.
Worship. Fellowship.
“My
counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you’ve
been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You’re deeply
rooted in him. You’re well constructed upon him. You know your way around the
faith. Now do what you’ve been taught. School’s out; quit studying the subject
and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.” (Colossians
2: 6 -6, TMB)
Dale
No comments:
Post a Comment