“If you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you” (Matthew 17:20).
We can never say that we do not have enough faith. Everyone expresses faith a thousand times each day. When we sit in a chair we express faith in the chair; when we eat food or have a drink we have faith that it will satiate a need without poisoning us. We turn on a tap having faith it will produce water and we flip a light switch in faith that it will bring light. In these and thousands of other daily activities we act in faith. In every case whether we get what we expect or not does not depend on the amount of faith. It is found in whether we are willing to act on what we know to be true.
No matter the need, even the smallest amount of faith is sufficient – because it is entirely the reliability of the object of faith that matters. Is the object of our faith trustworthy? The object of faith for the Christian is always Jesus Christ. It is He who does the impossible, not our faith. Our part is not in having much faith, but being willing to step out in faith trusting Him to act in accordance with His word. Vance Havner writes, “There is no real faith until it gets into the will and we undertake the very thing we know we cannot do, but undertake it in the name of and at the command of another.”
Faith will grow as it is exercised. Years of turning on a tap has given us great faith that we will get water when we turn it on. As we live and abide with Jesus exercising our faith in Him daily it will grow to the extent that we exercise it. However, we must never forget that even the smallest amount of faith placed in a reliable and trustworthy object will be rewarded equally as will the greatest amount of faith.
While the amount of faith does not affect the outcome it can affect our enjoyment of the journey. A person with little faith in a plane will have an anxious flight but a person with great faith will have a much more enjoyable flight. Both will arrive at the same destination and at the same time.
The reward for acting in faith is greater faith and hence a more enjoyable experience in the future. This is true in all aspects of life and especially in our walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that the one who comes to God, even out of little faith, will be rewarded with greater faith, “Without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Without some faith that God exists a person will not come to God but when they do they will discover that their faith is placed in One worthy of it. The consequence of that will be stronger faith.
You wish you had greater faith in God? Then exercise that which you have.