For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit to being circumcised or uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love. Galatians 5:6 (NLT)
Do you think you need more faith to see change in your life? Or to have your prayers answered?
Growing up, I recognized faith was valuable but felt continually challenged to develop even greater faith. I felt driven to “believe more” through Old Testament stories and New Testament verses like, “This is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:4). Over time, I realized that if we’re not careful, focusing on growing our faith “bigger” will lead us back into works. Without noticing it, we can quickly end up relying on our abilities to be “good enough” for God to do something for us.
Interestingly, Jesus only commented on the incredible faith of two people in the New Testament: a Roman centurion seeking healing for his valuable servant (Luke 7:1-10), and a Gentile woman seeking help for her demon-possessed daughter (Matthew 15:21-28). What do a Roman soldier and a Gentile woman have in common? The only thing I can find is that neither of them was religious. Because Roman and Gentile upbringings did not involve being trained in the rules of religious law, legalistic regulations did not cloud their expectations of Jesus. They just placed simple, straight forward trust in Him.
So, great faith doesn’t mean more faith. It doesn’t mean we need to try to drum up deeper faith on our own or to beg and plead with God to show we’re serious or desperate. Jesus recognized great faith in two people whose hearts believed that His grace was sufficient.
They trusted Jesus completely. That’s great faith!
Get encouraging devotions from Leon Fontaine in your inbox every morning.
