Growing in Faith

(What follows is adapted from a recent Wednesday night Prayer Meeting Bible Study) 

“Increase our faith!” - the disciples, to Jesus (Lk. 17:5-6)

I read something recently where a pastor made the case that while we can know and trust in the Lord with “little faith” (Matt. 6:30), we are, however, called to grow in our faith: “Your faith is growing abundantly” (2 Thes. 1:3). In the earlier text, Jesus says, quite clearly, that God cares for those even with little faith (praise God). But in the latter text, we find that this faith is to grow, and the Lord gives the growth.

Therefore, the New Testament everywhere calls faith a gift bestowed by God alone: 

-Phil. 1:29 “It has been granted you…to believe in him.” 

-Ac. 18:27 “He (Apollos) greatly helped those who through grace believed.” 

-Eph. 2:8-9 “…saved by grace through faith and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God.” 

Hence Paul can say in the 2 Thessalonians text that he rejoices that the Lord has grown their faith and love, even as they endure afflictions. Further, this is the reason why the disciples can ask Jesus to increase their faith: While faith can be little (because saving faith doesn’t depend on the size of the faith but the size of the God in whom the faith is), God is effective at growing the faith of His people. 

The question is this: How does our faith grow? Or perhaps a more pertinent question is this: What can we do to increase our faith? A lot of data shows that in late modern times, it is becoming more and more difficult for people to believe in God because we depend so much on empirical data (that which relies on the senses) to determine what is real. Therefore many of us struggle with faith. How can we grow? 

1. Seek the Lord, and ask

The writer of Hebrews famously says that in order for one to believe in God, they must believe two things: First, that He is (in Greek, it is the third person form of “I Am”). That “He is” is not the same as saying, “He exists,” because the writer says that in order to believe in Him (that is, to believe in His existence and to truly know him), they must believe He is. The point is this: One must believe that He is the I-Am of the Old Testament. They must know His nature as Creator God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Secondly, they must believe that he rewards those who seek him. God is not a trickster or a prankster. If one asks, seeks, and knocks, the door will be opened (Lk. 11:9). God is not forcing you to learn some magic language before He allows blessing to be pried from his cold clenched hands. He rewards those who seek him. 

So if you ask him to help you believe, He will. How He’ll do this is up to him. But He will, nonetheless. 

2. Give glory to God 

In Romans 4:17-21, the apostle highlights Abraham’s faith to show that God has always saved by faith in His promises. Abe had been promised a son although he was himself about 100 years old, and therefore did not have much empirical security that it would be so (because who could easily believe such a promise?) But Abe, according to Paul under inspiration, “hoped against hope” (4:18), and “no unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God” (4:20). This means there was unbelief present in Abraham, but he did not let it keep him from believing the promise. Instead, he “grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God could do what he promised” (4:20). 

That is to say that Abraham doubted his doubts, of which he had to have some; otherwise Paul would have said, “He did not have unbelief.” Instead he said, “No unbelief made him waver,” implying he had some. But it did not win. Instead, he doubted himself and turned his attention to God’s faithfulness throughout his own life and the lives of his ancestors. 

Note also that Abraham had direct revelation from God, and yet he still had some unbelief. We have revelation given to us via Bibles passed down. Don’t be so hard on yourself if you have doubts. Jesus can handle that, and as you give glory to God, you’ll grow in your faith. 

3. Do your duty 

This takes us back to the original text from Luke 17. The disciples ask the Lord to increase their faith after He told them of their responsibility to forgive indefinitely. So it runs like this: “Forgive indefinitely.” “Lord, you’ll have to increase our faith if we’ll do so.” He then reminds them of the graciousness of their salvation by telling them a parable of servants who did not take extra glory for merely doing their duty (Lk. 17:7-10). Jesus’ point is that the doing of our duty—in this case, forgiving indefinitely—does not make us righteous before God. Instead, it shows our closeness to him. Hence, the effect of it will not be on Him but on us. In what way? It will increase our faith, thus showing that Jesus’ parable is in answer to their question. In effect, Jesus is saying, “If you forgive simply because I say you must, you will grow in your faith because you’re trusting me more than your own instincts.” 

This whole discussion reminds me of Bonhoeffer’s famous imagined conversation between a pastor and a parishioner. The parishioner comes to the pastor saying that he is struggling with doubts about his faith, and the pastor says, “Well you must believe the Word as it’s preached.” The parishioner says, “I try, but I can’t get anything out of it. I’m struggling with it.” The pastor then says, “Then you must not want to hear it,” to which the parishioner says, “No, I do.” Whereas the pastor usually keeps in his mind the truth that “Only those who believe can obey,” meaning that we only obey God when we believe in Him, this doesn’t speak to the present situation. The pastor is at a loss. They might break away from each other here. 

But, as Bonhoeffer says, it is at this point that the pastor should reverse the statement: Only those who obey can believe. We only grow in our faith if we’re willing to obey the Lord even if we struggle in our faith. Is there an area of sin in your life that you are keeping back from Christ? Maybe you’re not obeying him there, and thus you cannot hear him. Or maybe he’s silenced his voice to get you to treasure hearing it even more. In any event, you must obey Him now, if you want to believe again.** Keep seeking him, availing yourself of the means of grace, and don't give up. He will reward.

In other words, if you go by his word (like Abraham did), you will find your faith growing. But wait until your faith grows and you might not ever obey. 

**Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (New York: Simon and Schuster edition, 1995; orig 1959 SCM Press Ltd), 69.