Lack of Faith - Lack of Love

The next morning as they passed by the fig tree he had cursed, the disciples noticed it had withered from the roots up. Peter remembered what Jesus had said to the tree on the previous day and exclaimed, “Look, Rabbi! The fig tree you cursed has withered and died!” Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours. But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.” [Mark 11.20-25]

You know, a lot of controversial teaching has been born of this passage of scripture. Because of the collaboration of more than one Gospel narrative of this event and teaching, however I personally have no doubts as to its validity. Furthermore, it is consistent with everything else Jesus ever taught about faith.

Perhaps where 'faith people' leave off however is the last part of the teaching about forgiveness. This lesson is also very consistent with the whole of Jesus' teachings!

When faith doesn't seem to be working, Jesus gives clear direction where the problem lies: the lack of forgiveness.

If faith were not an unpopular enough topic, now we are exposed to another self problem! If faith works by love (Galatians 5.6), then forgiveness is absolutely necessary for faith to work. The take-away from this is that if our faith isn't working, then unforgiveness should be sought out as the primary culprit!

Jesus taught elsewhere that faith could be hindered by the lack of prayer and fasting - but it should be noted that prayer and fasting - if they accomplish nothing else - work out the love of God in our hearts! In other words, A lack of faith is not the problem as much as a lack of love.

There are theological camps that categorically reject mountain-moving faith as applicable to the Church today. It is my opinion however that those camps have had to go to great lengths to refute words Jesus Himself spoke! I think many of those 'refuters' cannot bear to accept the forgiveness responsibility when faith appears to fail, so it is easier to make faith out to be a phenomenon of the past!

As for me, my faith has indeed struggled - but rather than refute the words and teaching of Jesus Christ, I will embrace them and seek therefore to rid myself of unforgiveness - whether I am consciously aware of it or not!

Father,  You know my struggles to exercise faith that makes a difference. I am faced today with the lack of forgiveness as the primary suspect in my failures. Please give me grace today to release my hold as judge of others and to forgive as freely as I have been forgiven!