There was a moment in the ministry of Jesus when the disciples, astounded at all they saw Him doing, came to Him and said,
[Lord] "Increase our faith!" 6 Jesus 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 (NIV)
Notice how Jesus didn’t directly answer the disciples’ question, but basically encouraged them to use the faith they already had, small though it may have seemed to them. When faith is used it expands, whether by a small amount that we hardly notice, or by a pretty big margin that we can definitely measure. It’s a pretty basic spiritual principle. But that’s not what I really want to talk about here. Following my message on Sunday morning on the live stream I was sitting and chatting with the ReChurch broadcast team after everything had concluded. I was staring out the window and quietly thanking the Lord for giving me an encouraging message to share. He drew my attention to a very old jumper I once had, but which had since gone the way of all things worn out.
The Lord drew my attention to this old woollen jumper that my mother had once knitted for me long ago. I wore that thing to death. It fitted so well when it was new. The older it got, however, the more stretched and oversized it became and, even after a good wash, it would never return to its proper, original shape – it was always much larger than it had originally been. The more I had worn it and had been in the garden with it - subjecting it to all kinds of abuse - the more stretched it had become. After a while it had just stayed stretched and worn. It was never going back to its original, comfortable size. After a few moments of staring at this old jumper in my mind’s eye, the Lord quietly said to me, “That jumper was stretched for so long and so hard, it could never return to its original shape. And so it is with the faith of these people you are shepherding. Their faith has been stretched so far and for long enough in this testing season, that it can never go back to its original size. Their faith is bigger now … and capable of so much more.”
I was so encouraged and heartened by this simple impartation – that came off an old, stretched jumper, which had now become a prophetic metaphor.
This is a message of encouragement to all you who are journeying with me out of this difficult COVID-19 season. We are nearly through it. Our faith has been really stretched and as copped all sorts of tests, and it has been stretched to a larger size now. It will never return to its former, smaller capacity. That’s good! Sometimes it takes a stretching for a long enough time with a hard enough test, and for us to hold on when all that is happening, for faith to be increased in us. We are, most of us, not the same people we were before this horrible COVID season. Having endured, though, our faith as a people of God has been increased. We have more faith capacity, individually and collectively, than we have ever had before. We are a stronger people. Let’s use what has been increased.
Faith grows through exercise and testing. It doesn’t grow any other way.
When Jesus told the disciples that day … "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”, He was saying, “use the faith you’ve got already – really use it”. Exercise it. Put it to the test. And as we do that, especially in times of testing as we hold on, faith is stretched and increased, and it produces in us a certain increase in resilience and the ability to persevere and overcome – and we now know it.
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
James 1:2-4 (NIV)
The stretching has produced something strong and new in us all. I can’t wait to start using it with you in this new season with all its new challenges it will bring. We know what to do now. We’re ready for them … and I am looking forward with great anticipation.
You are loved so dearly.
Ps Milton