I was looking up some Bible verses last weekend and stumbled across a familiar verse. It stuck out because I looked it up in the Message Bible, for a modern version of familiar words. This is what it said:
But the Master said: “you don’t need more faith. There is no ‘more’ or ‘less’ in faith. If you have a bare kernel of faith, say the size of a poppy seed, you could say to this sycamore tree ‘Go jump in the lake’ and it would do it.
I always thought that verse was talking about the amount of faith you had. But since reading it in the newer translation, I realized that I was sort of off the mark.
It’s about having faith, period. We just need to believe. Assigning a quantity to it doesn’t make it any more or less effective, since we tend to think that answers to prayer are a direct proportion to the size of our faith. As long as we have faith–as long as we believe in God, we’ve got power. I think the mustard seed vs mountain comparison (or poppy seed vs sycamore tree, in this case) is trying to help us form an idea of God’s grandeur. God’s looking to us to believe, to trust Him. He doesn’t have a faith sizing chart, that puts us all on different levels in our spiritual journey. As long as we believe, He can move. And move He does!
I’m so glad to have found this verse. It was liberating. No longer do I have to worry about whether or not I have enough faith. We can give ourselves complexes in trying to “get more faith” in order to see results/changes in our lives. But that’s not how God works. I just need to trust Him and give Him space & time to do His thing in my life.
This renovated thinking doesn’t change certain points though. Having faith does not guarantee an immediate response to prayer. God’s not going to do seemingly bigger or smaller things in my life because My faith is bigger or smaller. But having faith does means that I will trust His works & His timing. It means I’ll have more of an understanding and respect to His timing.