We Can Eat Later

The apostles said to the Lord, “Show us how to increase our faith.” The Lord answered, “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you! “When a servant comes in from plowing or taking care of sheep, does his master say, ‘Come in and eat with me’? No, he says, ‘Prepare my meal, put on your apron, and serve me while I eat. Then you can eat later.’ And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do? Of course not. In the same way, when you obey me you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.’” [Luke 17.5-10]

Have we done our duty? I mean, we want our faith increased, but have we been busy doing what the Lord has told us to do?

Jesus' men often missed the point. We often miss the point too.

Faith and faithfulness are not far separated. It would seem then, from what Jesus said here, that although we are tempted to want our faith increased, it behooves us to simply stay faithful in the work.

For myself and all the people I know right now who are struggling with issues in life and our faith seems to be coming up short, I see in Luke 17 that not faith, but faithfulness may be where we are in deficit.

Jesus is teaching about focus here: the focus is not faith, but faithfulness.

The New Testament does not lack for accounts of Jesus scolding His disciples because of their lack of faith. Here today however, we see a little more definition to the problem of insufficient faith in that faith is not effective apart from faithfulness. Ours is simply to serve our Master on His terms understanding that we "...can eat later" as Jesus revealed.

What Jesus is teaching here is in complete harmony with what He taught in Matthew's Gospel:

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. [Matthew 6.33]

Question: If one truly believes Matthew 6.33, why would they need to ask for increased faith? 

Answer: They wouldn't. They would simply "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously."

This is faithfulness. Consider this:

Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see. [Hebrews 11.1]

If faith is the evidence of things we cannot see, then faithfulness is the evidence of faith!

So, those who are struggling with faith should not lose hope! They (we) should simply remain faithful to the life and works of Christ through our lives knowing we will "get ours" (whatever that might be) in due time. We "...can eat later"

Father, forgive my childish impatience. May I be found faithful in Your Kingdom work. You said You would care for me and so, that is enough for me. So be it.