Jesus in Luke 17 gives us some challenging commands. In the previous chapter, He tells His followers that you can’t serve two masters, that God’s Law can’t be changed, and divorce for the wrong reason is adultery. He tells a very sobering story about the Rich man and Lazarus.
He begins chapter 17 with a warning to the ones who cause others to sin. He then moves on to teaching us about forgiveness toward others. Everything that Jesus has been teaching up to this point was very challenging for His listeners, and for us as readers!
He told them to go beyond what they thought was righteous. His teachings were difficult to hear, and yet essential to practice.
The apostles say this in Luke 17:5, “Lord, Increase our faith!” They recognized that their faith was in need of improvement if they were going to obey Christs commands.
It is the same for us today. Often times we lack faith to follow through with the commands Jesus gives to each one of us. It’s hard to rejoice in trials, it’s tough to say no to temptation, it’s difficult to walk the narrow path that leads to salvation. What’s stopping us from asking God the same thing the apostles asked?
Lord, increase my faith. The stronger our trust in God, the easier it becomes to make those difficult changes. Jesus responds to the apostles by telling them the power that is found in faith (Luke 17:6).
Lord, increase our faith. So that through our unwavering trust we can be found forgiven on that last day.
How strong is your faith? We can all take a step in the right direction today if we would ask God to strengthen our faith. Trust in Him! With even the smallest amount of faith Jesus tells us we can move mountains.
If we will trust God completely, our lives will be shaped by His desires and not our own. The commands from Christ our for our own benefit, but it takes faith to see that. Lord, strengthen our faith!
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