Your Faith Doesn’t Have to be “Enough.”

One of my frustrations surrounding the importance of faith in the Christian church has been this idea that God is only able to make a difference in our lives to the level of our faith in Him– we have to have “enough” faith for God to bless us or help us with what we’re praying for. This idea contradicts what Jesus came to Earth for. When Jesus came, it was because we AREN’T enough– we aren’t good enough by God’s standards to remain in relationship with Him on our own. Remember: God’s standard of “good” is perfection, and we certainly are not. But Jesus was and is.

Jesus was the guy who told his disciples, “…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, NIV). He’s never preached having “enough” faith, because it’s not about us being or having enough, it’s about HIM being enough. The point of Jesus’ entire ministry was that we may have faith in HIM, and not our own capabilities.

We tend to look at the first part of Matthew 17:20 and say “But Jesus told them they had ‘little faith’, that’s why what they wanted to achieve didn’t happen.” But I would argue that when Christ said “you have so little faith,” he wasn’t referring to the size of their faith, otherwise, why would he then tell them all they needed was “mustard seed” sized faith? Mustard seeds are TINY. When Jesus said “little faith” he meant their lack of faith completely. Other versions of this scripture, such as the New King James Version, put it this way: “…Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed…” I’m not saying having BIG faith isn’t good or aspirational, but it’s not the standard Jesus holds us to.

When we say that God is only going to perform to the measure of your faith in Him, we limit a limitless God. God is not a God of “can’t.” Another example of Jesus saying “You of little faith” that we look at as needing “enough” faith is the example of Jesus walking on water (Matthew 14:22-33). When Peter saw Jesus on the water, he told Jesus “if that’s really you, command me to walk out to you,” and Jesus obliged. When the wind and the waves started to scare Peter, he began to sink, and that’s when Jesus grabbed him and said “You of little faith…Why did you doubt?” A lot of people use this scripture as a way to suggest Peter didn’t have “enough” faith, but consider this perspective:

Imagine you’re walking across a large body of water to get to Jesus, and your focus is on Him. But then, you start to look around at the waves, and you feel the monstrous winds raging, and you freeze in fear, certain that you’re going to die as you begin to sink. Could it be that in this situation, you started to sink not because of the size of your faith, but because you took your focus off of Jesus? Jesus asked Peter “why did you doubt?” which means that Peter had unbelief that took his focus from Jesus to the situation he was walking through. I would argue that Peter’s lack of faith caused him to focus on not on Jesus, but the world around him, and that’s why he started sinking. Jesus told Peter “come” but his lack of faith caused him to stop moving.

Some of you may be thinking, well, Jazmine, what about the woman with the bleeding problem (Matthew 9:20-22) or the Roman soldier (Matthew 8:5-13)? Jesus was very pleased with the amount of faith they had, and he gave them what they asked for.’ And you’re absolutely right, but I feel that sometimes we look at this as the woman and the soldier believing in Jesus’ ABILITY and Jesus being pleased, but I believe Jesus was pleased because of their belief in His IDENTITY. It is because of Jesus’ IDENTITY that He has His ability. Let’s take a look at the Roman Soldier’s understanding of Jesus. He said to Jesus, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man of authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come’ and he comes…” (Matthew 8: 8-9). This Roman soldier, who was considered a gentile because he was not Jewish, understood Jesus to be a Man of authority, that’s why he referred to Jesus as “Lord.” He recognized Jesus not by His abilities, but by His authority as God, and because he knew Jesus’ authority as God, he trusted Jesus’ abilities.

Jesus’ miracles and teachings all pointed to His identity as the Son of God, but people were so caught up in the miracles that they missed the Man behind the miracles. And mind you, in these days, there were sorcerers and magicians who did wondrous things all the time, so for some people Jesus’ abilities may have been passed off as sorcery. (I obviously wasn’t around back then, so I don’t know for sure what they thought, but it’s always good to be educated about the cultural and religious surroundings of Jesus’ time.)

Jesus came to offer Himself as a living sacrifice in the place of humanity. He died for our sins, conquered death, and rose again, but before He did this, He had to show us that we could trust Him–that He was in fact who He said He was–the Son of God. My goal is not to discourage having great faith…my goal is to dismantle a belief amongst Christians that we have ever been or ever need to be or have “enough” to see God move in our lives. Jesus was and is the “enough” we need, and because He is “enough” we don’t have to be. Our focus is now on the good works we are blessed to do in this world because we are saved, because the purpose of our faith and our creation, is to do good for others.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith– and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works so that no one can boast. – Ephesians 2:8-9

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared us in advance to do. – Ephesians 2:10