Christian Living: God's Measure of Faith

Luke 17:3-4, "Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him."

Far from remaining detached from the spiritual state of our brethren, we must have a vested interest in their wellbeing, even though it comes at injury to ourselves. After all, in our non-confrontational age, who has the courage to rebuke another for sinning knowing this could well mean the end of a close friendship (note that the rebuking takes place among brethren)! What kind of friend are we if we see a sin imperiling the spiritual vitality of one we love and remain mute? That's like refusing to warn your little sister she's about to step on a copperhead or cobra, reasoning thus: "Well, I'm sure she sees it and knows what she's doing, and I wouldn't want to upset her." Where's the love in that?

Yet how much easier we find it to ruthlessly tear into people who's sins affect us personally. Rather sad, isn't it, how completely opposite to God's wise ways our human tendencies are? We silently watch those we love ruin themselves yet viciously attack people who have slighted us when our new Christian nature would have us speak with loving alarm when evil threatens our brothers and, in Christ's own lamb-like patience, suffer personal offense in silence. Yet we remain so flippin' self-centered.

I love the disciples' response in v. 5, "Lord, increase our faith!" They knew, selfish as they were, they couldn’t handle this kind of responsibility toward each other and prayed for greater faith to do the impossible. However, Jesus’ reply (in v. 6) indicates that God doesn’t expect the kind of living described in the verses above only from those with great faith. Rather, those with even a little bit of faith should be capable of great feats and, as though it were a given, Christian living!

An interesting thought, isn't it? The strength of our faith is measured by how we comport ourselves among other Christians. Oh how small my faith is when held to this standard! Lord, increase our faith!