Hebrews 11:1
Matthew 17:14-21
Matthew 13:31-32
All my eggs are in one basket, so if placing my faith in Christ's sacrifice on the cross is the wrong place to put my faith, I am out of luck. You too? Thankfully, it is not the wrong place to put our faith! But, if so much depends on faith I want to have as much as I can get. However, most days I still come up short. Can faith really grow? If faith is so important, why is it only defined one place in the Bible? And why is that definition somewhat vague?
Although we only see faith verbally defined once, we see it "personally" defined in all of the Bible. One of my favorite stories of faith is the story of Joseph. One day my son Joel was watching the movie Joseph: King of Dreams. I don't know if you have ever seen it, but it is an animated movie fictionally depicting the life of Joseph. It is as biblically accurate as it can be, but of course takes imaginative liberties. In short, it is a great movie. If you will recall from the biblical story, Joseph was not only his father's favorite, but he also had dreams that some might call delusions of granduer! These dreams only made his brothers despise him even more. Their jealousy led them to sell him into slavery and eventually, through a series of events, Joseph ended up in prison. In the movie, while Joseph is in prison someone trys to bring him some food, but unfortunately she dropped the food and the rats quickly devoured every bite. Joseph is so upset and he yells at God, "Any kindness You take away... what have I done to deserve this!" In his rage he falls down, but when he gets up he happens to see a single green leaf on a branch. That is where this song picks up. He starts to plant and nurture the branch. Here is the song...
As you saw, all during the song, Joseph is planting, watering, and nurturing that little branch with the one green leaf. Symbolically, that is all the faith he has left. That one leaf is his "mustard seed faith". At the end of the song, after he has remembered everything that brought him to where he is, the branch has turned into a beautiful tree. Joseph had helped grow that tree, but God had grown his faith. At that moment, in the movie, he looks at the tree and the prison door opens. Joseph is free and heading to Pharoah's palace. His true purpose was on the other side of the testing. How thankful I am that he persevered! I thought today about all Joseph had been through. The rejection of his own family! Oh, how that must have hurt him. Rejection is something I struggle with to this day, but how thankful I am that the Word shows me I am not alone. On the other side of our acceptance of God's Sovereign will, I sincerely believe we will find God's true purpose in our life.
Faith in itself is a gift, so it can't be about how much you have. It has to be about who your faith is in. Take whatever faith you have, even if it is only the size of a mustard seed, plant it deep into the fertile soil of God's Word. In time it will become a beautiful tree that "the birds of the air will come and perch on in its branches"(Matthew 13:32).
1 comment:
I remember selfishly asking the Lord "several" years ago (when I would get discouraged) to please just let me see a tiny sign that I was where he wanted me (and my family) in his service. Just a tiny sign that I had helped plant a seed that would actually grow. My faith is often shamefully weak. But you, my dear, have become a big, beautiful tree (or mustard plant, or something). I am continuously amazed at what the Lord does through you. We will never know the extent of the lives you touch. Praise Jesus.
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