The Object of Faith

I had an interesting conversation with a group of people.  We were discussing homelessness and how to best serve them in their situation. Somehow the conversation turned to religion.  What the person said was that it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you truly believe what you believe in.  She was talking about how someone had told her that what she believed wasn’t the true source of healing.  She said she got mad and cussed them out.  But in this ordeal she made known that any person can believe anything.  And she doesn’t like talking about the gods because of this reason. She ended her enlightenment on faith with a point saying it didn't matter if you believe in Bugs Bunny as long as you genuinely and sincerely believe then you are okay.  I was absolutely taken aback by that.

God has definitely been revealing things through my time with Grace in our scripture study.  In the gospel of Mark Jesus goes back home and when he’s there they kind of make fun of him and say he can’t do the things everyone is claiming him to do.  Mark says Jesus wasn’t able to do many miracles there.  He could only heal a few sick.

First, I want to stop and talk about Mark saying “he could only heal a few sick.” I mean it's funny to me that we look at that and wonder wow! they stopped Jesus. But in reality, he’s still healing folks.  God’s got all this power and ability but we are so desensitised to the scripture we brush that off.  But also just think of how many people Jesus was healing that Mark would need to use a phrase like that.  It would have been amazing to be around Jesus at that time!  

But what I really wanted to talk about was the reason why Jesus wasn’t able to do “many” miracles.  It was the faith that the doubters had.  It wasn’t the amount of faith though.  It’s not like those false prophets (especially these days) that say if you just have enough faith.  It ain’t the amount that's most important. Jesus said if we just have a small amount of faith mountains will be moved.  I think that's because Jesus is the one moving the mountain.  What I mean by that is the object of the faith is the most important.  A mountain can be moved because we recognize that it's not us.  It is Jesus. It is Jesus who we believe has the power and ability to cast that mountain into the sea.  Those difficulties we face and know only faith can help, it's because we realize our faith is placed in the one who can overcome those things. 

So I got to say, what that lady was talking about was absolutely nonsense.  It doesn’t matter how much faith you have in something, or how genuinely and sincerely you believe.  It will not mean anything unless that faith is placed properly.  And the only one who is worthy of this faith is Jesus.  So the question now becomes, where is your faith placed?

Let's take this one step further though.  Now we're not just talking about gods.  Let's talk about idols.  Are you placing your faith in trust in money, relationships, drugs, power, position, status, or anything other than Jesus to get you through? If so it will fail.  It will not hold up.  It doesn’t matter how fervent your belief is in it.  In the end, it will fail. 

Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20

fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. Hebrews 12:2