Shades Of Faith

SHADES OF FAITH

While some may say there are fixed degrees of faith, such as no faith, little faith, and great faith, I would say it comes in varying degrees. I might take a pencil and, depending on the sharpness of the point and the hardness of the lead, I could make varying degrees of marks on paper. Well, I feel each person has a shade of faith at different times in their lives. One day we wake up, and we might feel strong in the faith; another day one may wake up, and it isn't the way it was before. A good example would be when you had your eyes opened to a saving knowledge of grace. Before that, you had a small, if anything at all, degree of faith in God, because you rejected Him. Then you came to believe, and look at the degree of faith you have now! Shall we find some degrees of faith in the Bible?

Let's start with Gideon. Here was a man who, when told he would save Israel from the Midianites, expressed not faith, but doubt, in that he did not see how a poor Manassite, and least in his family to boot, could possibly save Israel. This was an expression of no faith. As a matter of fact, his faith was so puny, He tested God in this manner: "And Gideon said unto God, 'If Thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as Thou hast said, Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that Thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as Thou hast said.' And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. And Gideon said unto God, 'Let not Thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray Thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.' And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground." (Judges 6:36 - 40) No faith and all guts, to ask God to prove Himself more than once, don't you think? But you know, there is a song about how I've proved Him o'er and o'er, and many build their faith by observation, while others build it by simply hearing/reading the Bible and accepting it.

"And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And He called unto Him His disciples, and saith unto them, 'Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.'" (Mark 12:41 - 44) Consider that Jesus also meant for His disciples to discern that this woman not only cast in all she had, but in doing so, she exhibited great faith that God would supply her need thereafter. It would seem that the more money people have, the less faith in God, because as He pointed out, the rich cast in out of their abundance, that is, there extra money, while upon her cast, she had absolute poverty. No money, but much faith!

Let's look now at a man with faith so great, he is the only person in all the gospels, that it is written of him that Jesus marvelled. "And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto Him a centurion, beseeching Him, and saying, 'Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.' And Jesus saith unto him, 'I will come and heal him.' The centurion answered and said, 'Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, 'Go', and he goeth; and to another, 'Come', and he cometh; and to my servant, 'Do this', and he doeth it. 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. 8:5 - 10) I marvelled myself when I first read this, because this man was not a Jew, but a Roman!

Now if Jesus were here to tell you that you have no faith, well, since God cannot lie, you would have to be ashamed of having no faith, because God is omniscient! Here is a case wherein Jesus says it of His own followers! "And when they had sent away the multitude, they took Him even as He was in the ship. And there were also with Him other little ships. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And He was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake Him, and say unto him, 'Master, carest Thou not that we perish? And He arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, 'Peace, be still.' And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And He said unto them, 'Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?' And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?" (Mark 4:36 - 41) They really needed it to sink into their minds that they had God with them, Emmanuel, and how could they fathom that God would let it be said that His own perished in His presence? So for this reason Jesus told them, "How is it that ye have no faith?"

Let us look at Jesus' exhortation not to worry about the worldly possessions that you need, His speech persuades us to trust in the Father! "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or, 'What shall we drink?' or, 'Wherewithal shall we be clothed?' (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matt. 6:25 - 33)

Too long for printing here, if you go to Exod. 4:1 - 17, you will find a number of objections from Moses about being sent to straighten out Pharaoh. When first God made Himself known to Moses, Moses doubted! He made these objections; "Oh, they won't believe me!" "Oh, I'm a poor speaker!" These things I write are only in essence of what he actually said, but Moses, too, did not initially have faith, but look through the rest of his life, and he became God's friend and servant, a man of faith so great, he put a tenfold whopping on Pharaoh, 10 plagues strong, and Pharaoh not only cried "uncle!", but at the Red Sea God used Moses to totally defeated the Egyptian army because of the power of God, and all through his lifetime, Moses' faith was very great, save the bringing forth of water of Meribah in the desert of Zin.  In Exodus God spoke to Moses; "And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee My power; and that My name may be declared throughout all the earth." (Exod. 9:16)

So here we have varying shades of faith, some people demonstrating great faith, all the way down to those whom Jesus declared had no faith. So how's your faith these days? I pray God abundantly bless you with great faith, for without faith, it is impossible to please God! (Heb. 11:6)