Pastor Ash Dotson
It’s interesting that the disciples asked Jesus for more faith (Luke 17:5-10). I would like to say that a great place to learn about faith is in community, so I invite you to join us at Oasis United Methodist Church Sundays at 9:30 a.m. in the Laredo Room.
Faith is not measured out, it’s not like currency to spend certain amounts on certain tasks. Faith isn’t something we can earn or a thing we get. Faith is a relationship of trust and love … meaning we open ourselves to receive another’s life and give our life to another. That other is Christ Jesus, and that faith relationship determines who we are and how we live.
The disciples had yet to learn that faith will not change the circumstances of our lives, instead it changes us. Living life with faith does not shield us from the pain and difficulties of this life, and it doesn’t undo the past, although we are forgiven. Faith doesn’t guarantee a particular future in this phase of life. You see, faith is the means by which we face and deal with the circumstances of life, the difficulties and losses, the joys and successes, the opportunities and possibilities.
We see the consequences when some in authority positions in the church think they have the right faith or more faith than others. It only leads to legalistic religion such as the Pharisees practiced. What folks such as this are doing is separating their faith from the One we believe in. It becomes their personal faith rather than a gift from God. It becomes a vehicle for personal power or wealth, and that is the opposite of what God intends. True faith is a humble faith.
Some days we experience more pain and feel the heaviness of life to greater degrees. When it becomes more than we can carry, it is by faith, our relationship with God, that we can get up each morning and live life anyway. At other times we feel the pain of the world. Faith allows us to respond with compassion by feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, speaking truth to power, welcoming the stranger, and speaking for justice for all peoples regardless of race, culture, faith tradition, sexual orientation, or gender.
In this way we provide God’s compassion and love to others and begin to live in God’s Kingdom here and now. When we don’t stand for justice for all we break a part of the relationship we seek with God.
Try to think of faith as the lens through which we see ourselves, others, and the world … the entire universe for that matter. So no matter where we go, no matter the circumstances we find ourselves in … we are doing so in relationship with God, the one who created, loves, sustains, and redeems us. We live by faith not because we have enough faith, but because we simply have faith, any faith, even mustard seed–sized faith. Jesus believes that, so why shouldn’t we?