WORDS IN RED

LITTLE FAITH AND GREAT FAITH

26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Matt 8:26 (KJV)

10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. Matt 8:10 (KJV)

 

            There are some great contrasts in the Bible and this is one of them, little faith and great faith.  Since these are words of Christ i.e. they are words in red and they are in the Bible, they must be true.  Sometimes we want to think that one either believes or else he doesn’t believe but Christ speaks of faith that is small and faith that is great in the same chapter.  Let us look at the two in this short devotion.

            Jesus posed the question “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” to his disciples in the midst of a storm on the sea.  These men were those who he had called to follow him and they had submitted and followed him.  They had heard his teachings and seen his miracles.  They were witnesses to the fact that he was not a sinner in the least.  He had the words of life.  Yet when in a crisis they allowed fear to reign in their hearts instead of faith.  In the midst of the storm when Jesus looked at them he saw fear not faith.  He obviously gave them credit for following him, being on the same boat with him and loving him but he knew that, at this very moment, they were regarding the storm much more than the Master of the storm.  In other words their faith was not very evident, it was little.

            In Matthew 8:10, Jesus speaks of another type of faith, “great faith.”  This faith was found in a Roman centurion who had great love for his servant who was paralyzed.  The servant had the painful tremors that accompany paralysis.  There was a very open faith that was manifested in the way the centurion approached Christ.  He described his dilemma, “my servant is sick.”  His humility was visible, “I am not worthy.”  The centurion was more than willing to submit to the authority of Jesus.  Therefore Jesus reacted differently to the centurion than to his own disciples.  In the midst of the centurion’s crisis he displayed faith instead of fear.  Faith would reign on this day.  When Jesus looked into the eyes of the centurion he looked into the eyes of faith.

            As it is often said, if we are not in a crisis today just hold on for we may very well be in one tomorrow.  Will Jesus find me faithful or fearful?  Will I be of little faith or great faith?

            Lord I thank you for those healing and helpful Words in Red!

 

 

Yours in Christ,

 

 

Brother Randy Burtram

 

(Originally published March 15, 2015)