Faith Simplified
By Barry Adams
Luke 18:15-17
15 People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. 16 But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” NIV
15 People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. 16 But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” NIV
There is a lot of discussion these days about the role of faith in a believer's life. There are those that interpret James 2:18 to mean that proof of a believer's life is solely based on our ability to perform good works and there are those who minimize our own participation in salvation by saying that no amount of our own faith is enough.
In my humble opinion, if we are placing faith in our own faith, then we are barking up the wrong tree. This kind of faith is misguided because it focuses on our own ability to believe rather than on God's faithfulness to perform what He has promised.
And yet, there seems to be something in the heart of God that is really moved when we simply believe Him to be true. We see this in the story of a Roman centurion in Luke 7:1-10 who asked Jesus to heal his servant. When Jesus was ready to go to his house, the centurion sent messengers to Jesus saying in verse 6-7... “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7 That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. NIV
In verse 9, Jesus responds to this Gentile's amazing trust by saying... When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” NIV The Message Bible says it this way... “I’ve yet to come across this kind of simple trust anywhere in Israel. MESS
I think this in a nutshell describes what faith is. Faith is trust. Because trust is relational. If my wife told me that she didn't trust me, that would hurt me to my core because it would be a statement that she does not think me to be trustworthy.
If we look at the Greek word for 'believe' and 'trust' (pisteuō), we will see that these words are often interchangeable in the New Testament. And the Greek word for 'faith' (pistis) shares a common root word as well. So there is no question that trust is the foundation of our relationship with God and has its expression in our ability to believe and have faith in His goodness.
While Jesus was deeply moved by people's acts of faith, He was also disappointed at times when His disciples struggled with unbelief. When Jesus used the phrase 'Oh you of little faith' (Matthew 6:30; Matthew 8:26; Matthew 16:8; Luke 12:28), it was when His friends didn't believe Him. I find it interesting that the Complete Jewish Bible translates 'Oh you of little faith' to mean 'Such little trust you have!'.
So back to the question, how much faith is enough? I think Jesus answered this question perfectly when He said that unless we receive the Kingdom just like a little child would, we won't enter into it. Do little kids have great theological faith? Do they have an amazing capacity to exercise their believing muscles?
The answer is absolutely not. But what they have instilled in their DNA is their amazing ability to trust. And of course, little children are the best receivers! If Christmas and birthdays were every day, they would shout... Yeahhhhhh! It is little children's ability to simply believe and receive what is promised that makes them the greatest in God's Kingdom (Matthew 18:1-5).
So considering all of this, I believe that God wants to restore our ability to trust Him. As a matter of fact, I believe that He wants to restore the childlike trust that we all had as newborns. Because little children have an amazing ability to believe in ways that grownups never could. And that my friends is the faith our Father wants us to have.
1 John 4:16
We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. NLT
In my humble opinion, if we are placing faith in our own faith, then we are barking up the wrong tree. This kind of faith is misguided because it focuses on our own ability to believe rather than on God's faithfulness to perform what He has promised.
And yet, there seems to be something in the heart of God that is really moved when we simply believe Him to be true. We see this in the story of a Roman centurion in Luke 7:1-10 who asked Jesus to heal his servant. When Jesus was ready to go to his house, the centurion sent messengers to Jesus saying in verse 6-7... “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7 That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. NIV
In verse 9, Jesus responds to this Gentile's amazing trust by saying... When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” NIV The Message Bible says it this way... “I’ve yet to come across this kind of simple trust anywhere in Israel. MESS
I think this in a nutshell describes what faith is. Faith is trust. Because trust is relational. If my wife told me that she didn't trust me, that would hurt me to my core because it would be a statement that she does not think me to be trustworthy.
If we look at the Greek word for 'believe' and 'trust' (pisteuō), we will see that these words are often interchangeable in the New Testament. And the Greek word for 'faith' (pistis) shares a common root word as well. So there is no question that trust is the foundation of our relationship with God and has its expression in our ability to believe and have faith in His goodness.
While Jesus was deeply moved by people's acts of faith, He was also disappointed at times when His disciples struggled with unbelief. When Jesus used the phrase 'Oh you of little faith' (Matthew 6:30; Matthew 8:26; Matthew 16:8; Luke 12:28), it was when His friends didn't believe Him. I find it interesting that the Complete Jewish Bible translates 'Oh you of little faith' to mean 'Such little trust you have!'.
So back to the question, how much faith is enough? I think Jesus answered this question perfectly when He said that unless we receive the Kingdom just like a little child would, we won't enter into it. Do little kids have great theological faith? Do they have an amazing capacity to exercise their believing muscles?
The answer is absolutely not. But what they have instilled in their DNA is their amazing ability to trust. And of course, little children are the best receivers! If Christmas and birthdays were every day, they would shout... Yeahhhhhh! It is little children's ability to simply believe and receive what is promised that makes them the greatest in God's Kingdom (Matthew 18:1-5).
So considering all of this, I believe that God wants to restore our ability to trust Him. As a matter of fact, I believe that He wants to restore the childlike trust that we all had as newborns. Because little children have an amazing ability to believe in ways that grownups never could. And that my friends is the faith our Father wants us to have.
1 John 4:16
We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. NLT