Radical Christianity

The apostles once directly asked how to increase their faith. Jesus’ answer to that question is the sort of thing all of us ought to be interested in.

Jesus’ initial response is along the lines of what me might expect. He tells them, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you might say to this Sycamore tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you” (Luke 17:6).

That’s encouraging, and it tells us what would happen if our faith were increased, but it does not answer the apostles’ question as to how to increase their faith. The answer for how to increase our faith comes immediately afterward, and it is not what we would expect.

Which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say to him when he has come in from the field, “Go and sit down to eat”? Will you not rather say to him, “Prepare my meal, gird yourself, and serve me until I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you shall eat and drink”? Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise you, when you have done all those things which have been commanded you, say, “We are unprofitable servants; we have done only that which it is our duty to do.” (Luke 17:7-10)

I remember watching a video once on Mother Theresa. She had some charity work to do in Lebanon, but the city she was going to was in the middle of intense fighting. She asked the people who brought her if there was any way to get a cease-fire so she could carry out her mission. They said they knew of no way; she would have to cancel the mission. She responded, “I need the cease-fire.” She then went off and prayed, and a cease-fire started the next day that lasted the whole weekend.

It’s no surprise that Mother Theresa had that kind of power with God and man. She was a woman doing as much as possible in the service of Jesus. She was doing more, probably much more, than was commanded her, and her faith was great.

Are you doing the minimum or not even the minimum, hoping to scrape by into heaven because Jesus died for your sins? Your faith will never increase in this way. Faith is a gift of God, and it is given to those who wholeheartedly pursue the will of God. “I’ve done what you asked, Father. Is there anything else that I can do in your service?”

If we want to be men and women of faith, we need to be prepared to pursue the will of God wholeheartedly. If you are doing “enough,” then don’t wonder why your prayers so often go unheeded by heaven.

But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting, for he that doubts is like a wave of the sea being driven and tossed by the wind. Let not that man think that he will receive anything from the Lord. (James 1:5)