FAITH: THE FUNDAMENTAL ISSUE
” He told them, “It was because of your little
faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you will say to this mountain, Move from here to there, and it will move;
nothing will be impossible for you. (Matt 1720)”
Faith, a common term in the
Christendom. It is used by so many people who have little or no idea what it means.
The bible says “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what
we do not see. (Heb.111)” This means that with faith, we
already have that which we want before we have it concretely. It also means
that, through the eyes of faith, we can see the unseen, we see positivity
amidst negativity. Faith changes all “impossible”
to “in possible”. It is just like
that, no extra baggage, just have faith.
But I’m not moving in this aspect of
faith. Taking from the Mathew 1720 point of view, faith, in this perspective
has been misconstrued by a number of believers and even unbelievers use it to
ridicule the idea of faith. “If you have faith the size of a mustard
seed, you will say to this mountain, Move from here to there, and it will move;
nothing will be impossible for you.”
It’s quite funny to see someone say to a mountain to move from a place to
another. Sometimes they say that a chair is smaller than a mountain, obviously,
so if this chair can’t move, why waste my time with a mountain. That’s the way
the mockery is been shaped and they take pride in their false theory of
absurdity.
When Jesus said “mountain” He never
meant “mountain” like the material mountain, it is metaphorical, and the
“mountain” here is symbolic. The synoptic gospels have their different
metaphorical expressions: Matthew says “mountain” and Luke says “Sycamore tree”
in the KJV translation while it says “Mulberry tree” in the NET translation.
Now what does it really mean, either mountain or sycamore tree, or what have
you? These symbols are fixed objects they are immovable, glued to the earth,
and it is quite impossible to move them. It takes days even for miners to break
down a segment of a mountain. These fixed objects are symbols of
impossibilities; likewise, moving it from one position to the other is an
expression of possibility which takes us to the final part of the extraction “nothing
will be impossible for you” This is a part most people ignore when
they quote.
From the light of the spirit, the scripture, “If
you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, Move
from here to there, and it will move; nothing will be impossible for you.” Does
not mean you should move a physical mountain, it only says that, you can turn around the situation,
position, state of things for yourself, even the seemingly impossible
situations which revolve around the physical or spiritual, material or
immaterial through the power of faith. Like I said earlier, it’s just like
that, no extra baggage, just have faith. Faith creates water in the desert. It
makes you see what no one else sees. It makes you have something long before
you really have it. It keeps you going when everyone turns back. It makes you
see an open gate when it is really close. It makes you hold on, even as
everything around you gives you no reason to hold on. Faith makes you ignore
the voices around you and makes you understand the silent voice in you. Faith
keeps you calm when there is storm. “If you would just have faith like a mustard
seed…”
Faith is the propelling force behind [2]a
believer. In the present times, believers do not make
active that indestructible power of faith as the world has even made available
different devices to keep us far from God. The provisions of the world are
meant for the worldly, so you shouldn’t be subjected to the rules and modus
operandi of this world, for you walk by faith and not by sight.
Do not you know that you are not of this world? You do not do things like it is
done in the world. You are in this world, not of this world. “Jesus replied you people are
from below; I am from above. You people are from this world; I am not from
this world. (John823)” The world has set up the hospital for
the faithless. You do not expect to go to the hospital to hear the doctor tell
you something that will build your faith. You go to the hospital and the doctor
describes an ailment in a long medical term and you begin to quiver, why then
were you saved if you are still going to be subject to the principles guiding
this world. So it is expected of you as a Christian to live that life of faith
as displayed by Jesus. Faith is the conformity of the mind and the conviction
of the spirit to the reality of God’s word.
The fact is that without faith you
cannot please God, only if there is someone else you seek to please. As long as
heaven is where you are headed, faith is fundamental “Now
without faith it is impossible to please him,
for the one who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards
those who seek him” (Heb.116). We can only have access the heavenly, Godly treasures by faith.
You can only get to know His presence, to know Him through faith. Faith forms
the foundation for our salvations and with faith alone, we can get to His bosom
safely. Faith activates the power of the word, it triggers our inner man, and
it quickens the spirit of God within us to perfect all that concerns us. It is
the basis of righteousness. “For
the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world
was not fulfilled through the law, but through the righteousness that comes
by faith. (Rom413)” Righteousness only
comes through faith in Christ Jesus. Your works do not justify you as
righteous, you are a chorister, the head of your unit, you arrange for
everything that happens in your church, fund your church, you follow the Ten
Commandments to the letter, trust me, if you don’t have faith in Christ, you are nothing. “Yet we know that no one is
justified by the works of the law but by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. And
we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by the faithfulness
of Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no
one will be justified. (Gal.216)”
When you do not have faith it will be impossible for you
to handle little challenges that come your way. When you do not have faith, you
begin to see impossibility to every minor obstacle that crosses your path. As a
Christian, a son of God, the brother of
Jesus Christ, “For indeed he who makes holy
and those being made holy all have the same origin, and so he is not ashamed to
call them brothers and sisters. (Heb.211)” it is important that you get active in exercising your faith
and assume your brotherhood position with Christ.
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