Jesus demonstrated for us what it looks like to live a life fully committed to God and with full faith in God’s ability to provide.
Bible Verse
Matthew 17:19-20 (ESV) 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
Faith
No matter how hard I work to improve my faith in God, I am always reminded how far short I fall in His eyes. Not that this means I am any less saved. What verses like this remind me is how much more I could achieve for His kingdom if I even had a sliver of the faith which drove the life of Jesus. Jesus was able to do so many great things from a kingdom perspective. In this passage, His disciples did not understand why they were unable to cast a demon out of a boy who had been possessed. They tried to cast the demon out, but they could not make it go away. The boy’s father was desperate. Because the disciples could not cast the demon out, He sought out Jesus for his son’s healing.
Application
I know I have so much to learn about what it really means to live a life of God-ordained faith. I need to take the teachings and the example of Jesus to heart and begin trusting God for every aspect of my life.
In verse 18, after the disciples failed to cast the demon out, Jesus instructed the father to bring the boy to Him. In a moment of time, Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of the boy. The boy was healed instantly. When the disciples asked why they could not cast it out, Jesus told them it was because of their little faith. Jesus goes on to say that if we have even faith the size of a mustard seed that nothing will be impossible for us. Talk about an eye-opening statement. And Jesus lived this truth every day. Think about the time He fed the 5,000 and the time He fed the 4,000. He took an amount of food that would have barely fed a small family and fed the entire multitudes with basketsful left over.
Jesus demonstrated for us what it looks like to live a life fully committed to God and with full faith in God’s ability to provide. This passage is very humbling for me. Sure, I say that I have faith in God, but how many times do I first try to solve my problems before I bother God? How often is God my last resort and how often is He my first line of defense? I know I have so much to learn about what it really means to live a life of God-ordained faith. I need to take the teachings and the example of Jesus to heart and begin trusting God for every aspect of my life.
Prayer
Lord, thank You for the faith that we see lived out by Your Son Jesus. Help me to learn from His example and grow in my faith daily, moment by moment.
If you want to know more about having a relationship with Jesus, see the resources: How to Know God.
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