Jesus had some strong words to say about the disciples’ lack of faith: ‘“You unbelieving and perverse generation,”…“how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you?”’(Matthew 17:17 NIV). The disciples hadn’t been able to cast out a demon from a suffering boy, so Jesus took matters into His own hands: ‘Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment’ (v.18 NIV). We don’t know why the disciples lacked faith. They had seen what Jesus could do, and He had already given them the authority to heal and to cast out demons (see Matthew 10:1). But they still struggled. This story shows us how easy it can be to lose faith, and how important it is to keep feeding our faith so it grows stronger. We must constantly fight the negative things and attitudes that surround us in our culture, on TV, on social media, and sometimes from our own friends. Over time, they can wear us down by diluting our faith. To combat this, we need to feed our faith every day with God’s Word. Jesus said, ‘If you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move”…and it will’ (Matthew 17:20 NKJV). Jesus isn’t referring to a mountain from years ago. He said, ‘Say to this mountain.’ He wants us to use our faith today! He said, ‘If you have faith as a mustard seed…nothing will be impossible for you’ (v.20 NKJV). A mustard seed is tiny, but a tiny amount of faith is all God needs to work with. We might think we have no faith, but Paul said, ‘God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.’ And when it’s activated, miracles happen. Even if we have only an ounce of faith left, we have what we need to get started.
