Hopelessness to Hope, Post 2

The second definition given for hopelessness is “not susceptible to remedy or cure”. Maybe you’ve been through all the treatments, taken all the pills, endured the painful procedures and still have had no success. Maybe you’re at the point that you feel beyond helping.

            Faith healing has been given a bad rap in the last few decades. It conjures up images of slick-haired televangelists promising a genuine miracle for a monetary donation. It is a divisive issue among Christians, yet it was a vital part of Christ’s ministry, and one that He intended us to continue. Jesus was a faith-healer… without the shellacked coiffure.

            We talked about this briefly in the chapter on Anger and Bitterness, and I promised you then that we would dive headlong into the controversial topic of faith healing. Some of you are squirming in your seats right now. The topic makes a lot of people uncomfortable, sometimes even angry for one main reason: there has been a time in every Christian’s life when our “faith” didn’t come through for us, and we can’t understand why. It’s easier to just say “God sent me a trial to endure” than to do the honest soul searching that we need to. We avoid the most important question, “What needs to change within me?”, because it might result in the realization that we need a radical transformation.

            I said before that faith—the kind of faith that cleanses lepers, opens blind eyes, and raises the dead—is not a question of mental assent. Faith is a lifestyle, lived out during the best of times so that it can be prepared for the worst of times.

             Let’s explore this topic of faith, referencing the Bible itself, because understanding true faith is a vital part of any Christian’s life, and one that I believe is terribly misunderstood.

            In Matthew 17:14-21, we read the story of the healing of a demon possessed boy.

                        At the foot of the mountain, a large crowd was waiting for them. A man came and knelt before Jesus and said, “Lord, have mercy on my son. He has seizures and suffers terribly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. So I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn't heal him."

                Jesus said, "You faithless and corrupt people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me." Then Jesus rebuked the demon in the boy, and it left him. From that moment the boy was well.

                Afterward the disciples asked Jesus privately, "Why couldn't we cast out that demon?"

                "Because you have so little faith.” Jesus told them. "I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it would move. Nothing would be impossible."

 

          The disciples (and it may not have been the twelve) were unable to drive the demon from the boy, a feat they apparently should have been able to accomplish. Jesus explained to them that it was because they had so “little” faith. The term “little” here is not referring to the amount of faith they possessed. These men had plenty of confidence in the ability to drive out the demon, yet they were unsuccessful. That is because faith is not measured by quantity, but quality. Their faith was rooted in their own ability to command the demon, rather than in the source of that ability.

            Jesus then reveals to them that if they only had faith the size of a mustard seed, they could accomplish anything. This is further confirmation on the issue of quantity vs. quality. If this were not true then verse 20 would be a contradiction to itself—first, Jesus tells them their “little” faith is the problem, then He tells them the solution is to have faith the size of a tiny mustard seed? Again, Jesus was not pointing out their lack of quantity, but of quality. Their faith was insubstantial, lacking in substance, not measure.

            The next thing to notice is the comparison between faith and a seed. Seeds are amazing to think about. They are tiny in size, yet they can produce something as large as a redwood tree! A seed’s power does not come from its physical size, but from the energy and activity at work inside it. This is a great picture of faith at work in a Christian. I love the fact that Jesus choose to compare true faith with something so seemingly insignificant as a seed (which also stresses the fact that humility is a vital component in faith) rather than comparing it with something visibly powerful, like a raging river. Let’s look at these two in contrast, as we compare man-made faith (the river) to godly faith (the seed).

            First, a raging river is loud; it draws attention to itself; it awes people with its display of power and might. A seed is the opposite. It is silent, seemingly inactive. The farmer places it under the ground and no one but he knows it’s there; hidden from view, it begins its work, producing a power that would make the river jealous. Faith begins as a quiet work.

            Second, the river’s power is used to destroy. It eats away at its banks in order to satisfy its need for more. A seed creates life and grows into something that produces fruit. It replenishes the soil, rather than taking it away from where it belongs.

            Lastly, a river is ever changing. Its waters never flow through it a second time. It is unstable, undependable, and negatively reacts to storms. A seed, however, is steadfast and reliable—if you plant a mustard seed, you know what you will get from it. Most importantly, storms only cause a seed to flourish and grow.

            The mustard seed allusion reveals to us eight important truths about faith.

• Faith begins when we decide we want to allow God to develop it within us.
• Faith is planted in our hearts in humility and belief that it will produce what God says it will.
• Faith grows by fellowship with God. Just as a seed cannot grow without water, so too our faith cannot grow without the Living Water.
• Faith can only grow when we allow it to be planted inside us. It must be rooted in our spirit to produce. We cannot thrive off of someone else’s faith.
• True faith will produce visible fruit.
• Faith should never stop growing and becoming stronger and more productive. Jesus cursed the fig tree because it failed to produce fruit. (Mark 11:23-24) Faith without fruit is not true faith. We should cut it out of our lives or it will be done for us.
• Faith’s fruit should be useful to those around us, and nourish their spirit as it does our own.
• Faith produces more faith, the stronger and more mature it becomes.

                        So, we come back again to an earlier point: God has given us the power to overcome the world and all its ravages. It is the lifestyle of faith within us that gives us the authority to command demons, heal diseases, raise the dead… and change infertility. Sounds crazy, right? Well, don’t take it from me; take it from the original miracle worker, Himself:

                                    "I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works…”                           John 14:12