Faith As Duty

High summer in a year when apartment-living meant no garden.  No matter.  I repurposed the time planting row after row of faith-study.

July 9, 2004
Faith and Duty

In Luke 17, Jesus says to forgive a limitless number of times.  What does this do to our faith?  The disciples knew such a repeating call to forgive can confuse our view of God, make us wonder if he really does changes hearts, question the deepest things we believe about free-will and pre-destination--drive us down a rabbit hole that gets darker and darker...  "Lord, increase our faith," they begged.  Indeed!

Old sins committed against me by the hands of others, these revisit me in my weaker moments, in my moments of self-doubt or disillusionment.  These are the sins that announce the wrestling matches between forgiveness and trust, matches run on the floormat of my soul.  Self-preservation, belief in a loving God preservation--these beg me to close my ears and heart to forgiveness at its purest, most distilled form:  forgiveness offered by a call of duty alone, when it is unrequested and unwanted by its recipient.  Increase my faith!

What does it take to pull a tree out of hard ground by its roots and fling it into the sea--or rather, to make the tree do it to itself?  Faith "as a grain of mustard seed."    With that faith:  "ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you." (vs. 6)

But with increase of faith--active faith, faith that uproots trees--comes the temptation to overblow personal power and individual significance.  Hence the "but which of you..." placement of the passage immediately after these amazing assurances about faith.

"But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat?  And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?...So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do." (vs. 7-8, 10) So, the question becomes this:  can God permit us such a faith?  Does our little dinghy think it's a yacht whenever it sees itself spray those splashy miracles all around--the wake that trails its faith?  Is that who we are?  Or, will we simply look to the next task at hand for us? At the very least, do we pause--just a moment--to bask in the glory of our own awesome faith?  Again, single-mindedness is key.  It comes round full circle to that.   

Interesting that I came across this quote yesterday:
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."
Abe Lincoln
Faith.  Power.  They dance together well or miserably.  There is no in-between.
Sometimes, my spirit swells and my heart aches when I hear my Lord's words echo:
 "Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?"
Dare He increase our faith in this day?
Even so, I reach for the heritage of royalty within me--a heritage You bought for me--and say:
"Make me fit. Make me fit for increased faith...then bring it!"