So Little Faith

Scripture:
"I am the vine, my father is the gardener ... and you are the branches."
(John 15:1,5)

On Sunday while out to dinner with my wife a temporary cap, which the dentist put over a tooth he is working on, came off in my mouth while I was enjoying a delicious coconut ice cream dessert at a nice Thai restaurant. I knew immediately what had happened and I carefully wrapped the cap in a napkin and made an appointment to have it "glued" back. I went in this morning but it was too late. A tiny piece broke off and now I have to go through the whole process again of orthodontic work, another temporary cap, etc. Fortunately the final cap had not been ordered. Well to say the least, I did not come to work this morning very uplifted. I mentioned to Gloria on the way in saying, "I wish I had the faith to put my finger on my bad tooth and have it grow back."

The Lord told us that if we had the faith of a mustard seed we could move mountains. (Matthew 17:20) Does that mean that we have only a little bit if faith and we have less then that, does that mean that a mustard seed has 100% faith and we need to strive to have that? I don't know. There are many, many sermons and interpretations on the Internet about what this means. But my tooth is still broken. I wrestle about how little faith I actually have and my wife and friends encourage me when I share these kinds of thoughts. Why? Because they love me and that makes me feel good. But my tooth is still broken. I will now make another appointment and continue the process of getting it fixed and eventually there will be a cap on the tooth. But my tooth will still be broken even though the broken tooth will be covered up with a cap.

I think my tooth is a good illustration of how sin decays our lives. Little by little we let sin work its way into our lives not caring for our lives as we should. The next thing we know, sin has gotten a hold on our lives and destroys the very moral fiber of our souls and we need Jesus, the expert, to come in and tell us He is going to fix things. After he has done all the work of cleaning out the decayed parts and reconstructing our lives, we are told "go and sin no more." With the scars of sin on our lives, we get up, move forward and if we are not careful, sin works its way back into our lives.

A few quick thoughts

1. We are told to obey God's word and if we do, we will prosper, but instead, we follow what we think, and not what God says.
2. Then when we fall and cry out to God, He picks us up, heals us and says, obey what I have told you and you will not get hurt.
3. So we try harder and maybe don't fall in the same way because maybe we have learned from our mistakes.
4. Before long we fall in another area, building on our "experiences" by falling and recovering when if we just did what God said in His Word in the first place we would not have to learn the hard way.

Do you know what I learn from all of this? I don't have faith, in my own strength, to do what God says. Paul says that he did, what he did not want to do, and did not do, what he wanted to do. (Romans 7:15) It is not that I don't have "enough" faith as a mustard seed, I don't have any faith at all, at least not that comes from within me. I only have the faith that God gives me. Faith comes from the hearing of the Word of God. (Romans 10:17) So, if I want faith I must be in the Word of God and the amount of faith I have might very well be in direct proportion to the amount of time I spend in God's Word. If I watch 2 episodes of Get Smart on TVLand, I will laugh at his follies right before I go to bed, but if I read 2 chapters of God's Word, I will contribute to my growth in faith and probably rest all night with my spirit meditating on the God's word.

Also I meditated this morning about what I heard from a preacher on the Internet this morning which goes along with what I am sharing here. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. (John 15:1-8) If I am a branch and Jesus is the vine then the only thing I have to do to bear fruit is be connected to the vine and get everything that I need from the vine and from no place else. Jesus continues by saying that if we abide in Him and His Words abides in us then whatever we ask, will be given to us.

Conclusion:
I can't heal my tooth because I don't have faith,
and I don't have faith because I don't abide in the Word.

Solution:
I need to abide in the Word
-->> to have the faith
-->> to be given what I ask for

Prayer:
Lord, forgive me for only reading or only studying your Word. Teach us Holy Spirit of God to abide in your Word. Help us get rid of all the "busy-ness" in our lives, to open our eyes to all "free" time, and to prioritize our lives so that we spend time and abide in your Word.