Faith

I've been reading through the Gospel of Matthew when I came across the story of a demon possessed boy in chapter 17. The father of this boy asks for Jesus' help and confides that the disciples were unable to help him. Jesus seems very frustrated at this point and says "how long shall I put up with you?" and then heals the boy. His frustration seems to be with the failure of His disciples rather than the request of the father. The disciples ask Jesus why they couldn't do it, to which Jesus responds, "Because you have so little faith." Two things come to my mind:

1. Faith is not evidenced in the attempt but is seen in the results. Jesus continues, "I tell you the truth, 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." I would argue that the disciples had exercised a "mustard seed" of faith based on the fact that they attempted to cast out the demon. They tried. They got involved. They did not ignore the boy's need. It reminds me of another story when Jesus says the same thing to Peter when he steps out of the boat and actually walks on water but then begins to sink. The comment of "little faith" is directed to Peter and not to the other disciples who remained safely in the boat. Peter attempted but Jesus does not pat him on the back and say "Nice try!" Attempting may be an act of courage or even obedience but it does not impress Jesus as an act of faith. Courage may allow us to initiate action and obedience may motivate us to action but they they do not necessarily constitute faith. Faith yields results. The lack of results seems to indicate to Jesus that the action was done without faith. "Nothing will be impossible for you!" Faith produces something. Faith never yields nothing. Nothing is impossible. Something happens, something moves, something grows, something changes. Nothing is impossible. Jesus seems to contradict Himself by rebuking the disciples for "little faith" and then saying that mountains can move through "little faith." The Message brings clarity to this: When the disciples had Jesus off to themselves, they asked, "Why couldn't we throw it out?" "Because you're not yet taking God seriously," said Jesus. "The simple truth is that if you had a mere kernel of faith, a poppy seed, say, you would tell this mountain, 'Move!' and it would move. There is nothing you wouldn't be able to tackle." Am I taking God seriously? Am I attempting things in my own energy or am I truly exercising faith? God honors faith. He honors courage and obedience only as it is exercised through faith. Do I just keep trying things or am I actually doing things? I would rather fail at the attempt than to stay in the boat or sit on the sidelines but maybe I shouldn't settle for just attempting. I choose to believe today that God wants to do the impossible in my life. I choose to believe that He wants to move the mountains in my life. For that matter, I also believe that God wants to move me to the mountains! I'll have to write my second thought later.