Using the faith given to you
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
—Hebrews 11:6
We all wish to please God. Don’t you? Then you need faith, for without it you cannot please him. Cannot. Impossible. Not possible. Got it yet?
We must believe that God is. Although if you are a Christian, then you have undoubtedly experienced him, but you cannot see him. You must believe in God by faith. And by faith, you believe that God is a rewarder—at least spiritually, right? God is good, and He gives us good things.1
If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?
—Luke 11:11
Father God wants the best for his children. He is not in the business of giving you a serpent. He loves you. And He wants you to please Him—to love him and to have faith in him.
So how do we acquire this thing called faith?
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
—Romans 10:17
This is where it starts. Faith comes by hearing; hearing comes by the word of God. We must delve into the Word if we expect to obtain faith. If we do not spend time in the Word, then we should not expect God to give us faith in our lives.
For by the grace given to me I say to every one of you not to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, but to think with sober discernment, as God has distributed to each of you a measure of faith.
—Romans 12:3
So once you read the word, once you hear the word, you will develop faith, right? Wrong. You are not the source of faith. You do not muster up your own faith. Scripture tells us that God measures your faith. It is not from yourself. This is similar to the grace that we are given:
But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
—Ephesians 4:7
It is all measured to you. Even grace is measured to you. Not everyone will obtain the same grace as all others, at least initially; not everyone will receive the same faith as others. There are some who are ready for more faith because they are spiritually ready to take on the tasks that accompany that faith.
For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.
—Luke 12:48b
God will give us some faith; much will be required of it. When we use it, build it, and develop our ability to deal with it, then God is pleased, and he will give us more. Much is required at each step. With faith, we are to please our Father in Heaven.
Be careful with this gift, though. Don’t let it go to your head if you appear to have received more than your neighbor. Someone like Billy Graham was given great measures of faith to accomplish what he did. I have never heard him boast that he had more faith than you and I. He was a servant. Remember what God tells us.
For who concedes you any superiority? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as though you did not?
—1 Corinthians 4:7
You are not superior. You did not muster your faith for yourself. You did not create it. You simply use what is given to you. “What do you have that you did not receive?” Nothing! God measures everything for you.
If you think you have read scripture that seems to imply that you mustered your own faith out of thin air, if you think you read that you make your faith, then re-read the verse with the ideo in mind that you are using your faith. Read with the understanding that God gave you the faith and you are using it to the best of your ability. For instance:
He told them, “It was because of your little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; nothing will be impossible for you.”
—Matthew 17:20
This speaks of your little faith. It could be that God only gave you a little bit. It could also be your ability to use only a portion of what you’ve been given effectively. Nowhere does Jesus say here something like, “You have little faith. Grow some more. You build it up. You make it better.” No. He says you have little faith. A little faith is enough to move mountains. Learn how to use it.
The mustard seed is understood to be the smallest seed. It was the smallest thing that they thought of. There was nothing that was more “little” than that. Jesus was not saying that they had faith smaller than the smallest thing. He was saying that even a small amount of faith can do great things.
There were many times Jesus looked at the disciples and stated, “Oh, ye of little faith!” These are Jesus’ right-hand men. And they were more than once accused of having “little faith.” And we stand around and claim such wonderfully strong faith? Did you do this at all? We can test with scripture just how strong your faith is. See Mark 11:24; are you getting what you ask for? Always? And if you answer “yes,” you are an arrogant, prideful soul. God help you.
It probably was ’t you, eh? That’s okay, though. Only Jesus was perfect. You are told to work on having faith the size of a mustard seed. Just start out small. But start out. Have faith. God gave you faith to believe him and accept your salvation. And when you pleased him by accepting his offer, he would have raised the bar, and he would have given you the faith to take the next step. What you do with it is up to you. Are you ready to step out of the boat?
By the way, he gets to define “good,” not you.