Luke 17: 5-6

Our journey of faith is no bed of roses, but full of briers and thorns. When we have faith in God, we can remain steadfast in our walk with Him

5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. (Luke 17: 5-6)

When it comes to faith, we would naturally recall what Jesus had said, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea”; “… if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move”; or the account of Old Testament heroes in Hebrews 11 who subdued enemies and raised the dead. Perhaps, we can also think of some faith heroes of the modern era, or Christians whom we know personally who can heal the sick and cast out demons. We envy these people and reckon that they have great faith, while at the same time, see ourselves as lacking in faith or having no faith at all.

“tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment …” (Hebrews 11:35b-38)

Now let’s look at the paragraph just before verses 5 and 6. In this narrative, Jesus gave the context of when we are hurt by someone, not just once or twice, but deeply hurt. If the offender eventually repents and apologises to us, can we forgive? Theoretically, we ought to forgive, moreover, Jesus’ teaching on forgiveness is very clear. However, can we truly forgive in reality? Our hearts have been deeply wounded. The good news is our hearts can be healed. The healing comes not from us, but from God. The Lord can heal our wounded hearts. Let’s take another look at Hebrews 11. The chapter is largely devoted to telling the story of heroes of faith of the Old Testament times, except in the last few verses (35b-38) which recount the experience of New Testament Christians who were “tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment …”.

Exercising our faith means that when we experience suffering, when we encounter the storms of life, we trust that God will see us through. We do not worry if our faith is sufficient or not. When we are willing to trust and depend on God, this simple faith will help us go through, not just surmount, but break through all challenges and storms of life, and remain secure. We will also become more resilient and grow from strength to strength.

Undoubtedly, our journey of faith is no bed of roses, but full of briers and thorns. When we have faith in God, we can remain steadfast in our walk with Him.