You of Little Faith for Paper Mar 22

In the gospels is the story of Jesus walking on water. He feeds the 5,000 and sends his disciples ahead on the boat while he withdraws to pray. Near morning he comes to the disciples who are far out in the lake rowing against the wind. They are terrified when they see him, thinking he is a ghost. He identifies himself telling them to take heart or courage. Peter then asks Jesus to have him walk out to Jesus on the water. Peter starts out walking on the water, but as he looks at the wind and the waves he is fearful and begins to sink. Jesus reaches out and saves him, saying to Peter “You of little faith, why did you doubt”.

What is doubt and how does it work in our lives? Let’s look at some verses to see how this word doubt is used in the bible. “Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” Matt 21:21  And “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.” Mark 11: 22, 23

Now Jesus said to Peter “You of little faith, why did you doubt”. Can you see that doubt is the opposite of faith. Doubt works in opposition to faith. Now of course we all have doubts. Our faith is not absolute in every instance. We cannot walk on water. Faith is there in our lives, and so is doubt.

Do you sometimes wonder if you have enough faith to make it into heaven when you die? What if you sinned just before you died? What if you wondered about Jesus rising from the dead for a few moments the day before a car accident took your life. Maturing our faith is a life long process. We all start out experiencing lots of doubt about God and Jesus as new Christians. And this doubt that is the opposite of faith is there in mature Christians too. Maybe we become very confident of our salvation as we mature in faith, but we still don’t walk on water. Doubt or a lack of faith prevents us from doing so.

We are saved by faith through grace. But that faith does not have to be perfect or absolute in order to be saved. Faith is not something we conger up from within ourselves. It is a gift from God. When we die Jesus is not sitting there with a little scale to measure our faith to see if we have enough to make it into heaven. Rather the moment we first become Christians God puts his Holy Spirit in us.  As I said in my last column on our death or at the end of the age it God’s Holy Spirit that is in us that is our entrance ticket into heaven. Read a similar verse to what I used in that column: “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”  2 Cor 1: 21 & 22

We may have doubts about many things about our Christian faith but our salvation is secure as long as we retain the Holy Spirit in our lives. Doubt about our eternal destiny may come and go, but the Holy Spirit, the deposit that guarantees our eternal destiny remains with us through the process of sanctification.

While our salvation is secure despite our doubts, doubt can be a hindrance to God working in our lives, just as it caused Peter to start sinking. Let me share a story about my children that illustrates how a lack of faith or trust in God presents him from working in our lives at times.

When my daughter Karleen was a baby I would sit her on the palm of my hand and raise her up over my head. She would laugh and giggle and reach out with her hands to touch the ceiling. She was totally unconcerned about falling, and let me balance her in the palm of my hand. Now my son Jon, who was a few years older, saw Karleen having fun touching the ceiling and he wanted me to lift him up in the same way. Me too dad he said. So I sat Jon in my hand and started to lift him up toward the ceiling. However as soon as Jon got above my head he would put his hands down on my head, and I could not lift him any higher. I was quite capable of lifting him higher, but he was fearful of falling, and grabbed my head for security. His upper body arched over from my hand as he held my head, so he was no longer balanced on my hand. If I raised him any further he would have fallen. Karleen was not walking so she had not experienced falling. She was unconcerned about trying to balance herself, and let me do the balancing as she sat on my hand looking up at the ceiling and reaching out to touch it. But Jon had experienced falling. He did not trust himself to be able to balance himself, and he did not trust me to be able to balance him and keep him from falling. His fear of falling and doubt of my ability to balance him made it impossible for me to raise him to the ceiling, even though I was very capable of doing so.

In the same way our lack of faith or doubt can prevent God from acting in our lives. Faith overcomes doubt. Faith is a gift from God, and he gives us faith through his word and sacraments. If you want to overcome doubt in your Christian journey, increase your faith. You do that by reading and studying your bible. “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” Romans 10:17

Blessings