Luke 8:25 “But He said to them, "Where is your faith?" And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, "Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!”
In the previous section we have discussed the importance of faith to the Christian life, and so the question is asked how do we get faith? We have already seen in a previous passage of scripture that it is God Himself who gives us faith. So when does God give us faith? Scripture tells us that God gives life to the dead and calls those things that do not exist as though they did (Romans 4:17). In other words God, who is the creator of all things, creates all things by faith as He calls things that do not exist into existence. And so when God created man, one of the attributes that He gave him was faith, for God is a God of faith and He created man in His own image. In the above quoted passage of scripture our Lord Jesus asked His disciples the question, “where is your faith”? The reason Jesus asked them that question was because He knew that they had faith, for He is the one who gave them faith when He created them. The gospels reveal to us that multitudes were healed under the ministry of Jesus, and almost all were healed by exercising their faith in His ability to heal, for time and again our Lord would say to those who were healed under His ministry, “your faith has made you well”. So where did those people get their faith? The answer is that God gave it to each one of them when He created them.
Mark 10:15 “Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”
The truth that everyone is born with faith is clearly evidenced by every child’s unquestioning belief or faith in everything their parents teach them. In other words, they have what is often referred to as childlike faith. Our Lord Jesus confirmed that truth to us in the above quoted passage of scripture, when He taught us that in order to be saved we would have to display the same faith that all children have. Sadly however this world is programmed to destroy faith, and so as time progresses and children grow up, that unwavering faith increasingly gives way to doubt and unbelief. And so by the time many reach maturity they no longer exercise their gift of faith, and eventually get to the point where they become almost completely faithless. The Lord Jesus described people that reached the point of being faithless as being a perverse society (Matthew 17:17). There are however, a few who are taught to exercise their faith howbeit only in the natural, i.e. they are taught to believe in themselves and in their own abilities. God created faith and therefore faith works, and because faith works, when people exercise their faith in themselves, their faith will bring out the best in themselves. For example, no sportsman can excel in their chosen field of sport unless they believe in their ability to do so. And so because faith is from God, it works on the principles that God put in place. We all know the popular scripture that says, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). That same principle applies to faith exercised in the natural as well. We can use the example of a sportsman again to illustrate this point. If a sportsman keeps hearing words of encouragement from his coach and others around him, that he can do it, that he can become the best in his sport, that he has the talent. His belief in himself and his natural talent will become stronger and he will respond to that by performing that much better. The problem with faith in the natural however, is that it is limited to what can be done in the natural.
Mark 9:42 “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea.”
We have already seen that man has the God given ability to believe, i.e. faith. More importantly however, God gave man the ability to believe in Him and His creative power, for in the above quoted passage of scripture our Lord Jesus revealed to us that all children naturally believe in Him. As we have already mentioned however, this world is designed to destroy faith but even more so it is programmed to destroy faith in God. And so as children grow up, very few are taught to exercise their faith in God, and those who are taught to believe in God are presented with a distorted teaching about Him, for from a very young age; many children are taught to believe in various fables and fairy tales while at the same time they are taught to believe in God. And so as children grow up and eventually realise that fables are untrue, what little faith they may still have in God also becomes eroded as they begin to question whether that which they have been taught about God is true. And so consequently when people eventually become mature adults the majority do not exercise any faith at all, especially in God, and thus they become what our Lord Jesus called a faithless and perverse generation. Nevertheless everyone still has faith even though it lies dormant and unused in most people. So how is it possible that children, with very limited understanding compared to adults, have a level of faith that most adults do not display, for even Jesus pointed us to look at their faith as the example that we should follow? The reason is because children have very limited understanding, and therefore almost zero capacity for any doubt that would prevent their faith from working. Adults in this life on the other hand, operate at a huge disadvantage with regards to faith, because their understanding has developed primarily to doubt, thus preventing their faith from functioning.
Michael E.B. Maher
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