Increase our Faith

Increase our Faith

Luke 17:1 – Jesus said to his disciples, “Stumbling blocks are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! 2 – It would be better for him to have a millstone tied around his neck and be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.

Verse 3 – watch yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. 4 – Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to you saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” 5 – The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

Which one is the stumbling block? The person who sins against someone else seven times in a day and returns to repent or the person who by the seventh time is so fed up that he’s tempted to withhold forgiveness? Even under such circumstances, Jesus said “You must forgive him.” to this the disciples responded “Increase our faith!”

verse 6 – So the Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this black mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled out by the roots and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

All it takes is mustard seed faith in Jesus to be able to forgive a person who just can’t seem to get it right, yet so desperately wants to. Isn’t this our story as well as we relate to Jesus? How many times in a day do we sin against Jesus and He is faithful to forgive us when we come to Him in repentance?

How do we relate to a person who habitually sins against us, knows it, can’t seem to help himself to improve yet comes to us for forgiveness every time? and What is our duty in the eyes of God in treating such a person?

Jesus provided an answer to that question as we read on in Luke 17:7 – “Would any one of you say to your slave who comes in from the field after plowing or shepherding sheep, ‘Come at once and sit down for a meal’? 8 – Won’t the master instead say to him, ‘Get my dinner ready, and make yourself ready to serve me while I eat and drink. Then you may eat and drink’?

Verse 9 – He won’t thank the slave because he did what he was told, will he? 10 – So you too, when you have done everything you were commanded to do, should say, ‘We are slaves undeserving of special praise; we have only done what was our duty.’”

We are undeserving of special praise for rebuking and forgiving one who keeps sinning against us multiple times in a day. By continually forgiving them regardless of how many times they come to us, we are doing the duty Jesus commands of us. Let’s not overthink things or be too critical. Faith in Jesus is what we need to accomplish the duty of obedience even in forgiveness. As faithful as Jesus is to forgive us repeat offenders, so we should be faithful in forgiving others – in so doing we will guarantee that we are not being the stumbling block causing someone else to continue in sin because of our faithlessness. What a shock it would be in the end to discover that the millstone should be tied around our own necks because we failed to forgive. Rather let the shock be that our mustard seed faith in Jesus resulted in the salvation of a repeat offender who finally saw Jesus through our faithfulness.

Lord Jesus, increase our faith today! Amen!