Contributor: Annie
We emigrated to New Zealand almost 42 years ago and its beauty and diversity of environment never ceases to amaze me. However, this wonderful asset also makes driving around the country less straight forward than many other countries.
New Zealand has 2 large islands and the South Island has the Southern Alps running right down the middle of it. This makes going from west to east and vice versa an exercise in navigating state highways that are single lane in each direction, while being prepared to meet huge log carrying truck and trailers at any bend in the road and travelling what seems like miles out of the way, as there are basically only 3 mountain passes that will enable you to do the journey.
You may be the most accomplished driver in the world and have absolute faith in your ability to drive the vehicle from A to B with precision and safety. However, if your vehicle is a ramshackle old bone shaker, having faith in your driving will most certainly not ensure you arrive at your destination. If, though, you have a modern, well maintained vehicle you are much more likely to make it. You need to have faith, even a smidgeon, in the vehicle itself.
So it is with our walk with God, our focus has to be on Him as the object of our faith, not on us.
My faith is not what it’s about, we are, according to Jesus in Mark 11:22 to have the faith OF God. He told us that if we have faith the size of a grain of mustard seed, we can tell whatever mountain is in front of us to be removed and be cast into the sea. It is when we place our grain of mustard seed into the Father’s Hands, surrender to Him and let His Faith flow through us, that is when mountains will move because it is the Faith of God Himself that will move them. As God works on us, our assurance and trust in Him enables this surrender to grow so that it becomes second nature to us.
Jesus lived this every day. He had such faith in God that before anything was requested and completed, He gave thanks. Feeding multitudes, raising Lazarus, all began with Jesus giving thanks. He knew it was the Father working through Him, He depended totally upon His Father. That is our example of absolute surrender.
Jesus chided His disciples for their lack of faith, “oh ye of little faith”, and I wondered why He should do this. Jesus wasn’t talking about the size of their faith, it is never about the size of our faith, it was their, and my, lack of understanding as to what faith is. Faith is alive, faith is active, faith is living and doing everything that Jesus spoke of in Matthew chapters 5 to 7, what we call the Sermon on the Mount. These are the Kingdom rules for living in this fallen world.
In John 17:14-16, Jesus declared that we are not of this world, just as He was not of the world, we are children of God, heirs to the Kingdom. Faith is living as someone who is OF the Kingdom of God, by the Kingdom rules, yet still living IN this world, just as Jesus did through all His days on this earth.
Prayer: Father, help us to understand that “Thank You” is the language of faith, giving thanks to our Father in all things at all times, following Christ’s example, surrendering and depending totally upon You.
Scriptures
Matthew 5 to 7
John 5:30
John 17:14-16
Hebrews 11:1
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