“According to your faith let it be to you.” (Matthew 9:29)
Microsoft will roll out its new operating system the end of this month – Windows 10. It’s a free download for one year after which you’ll have to pay for it. You’ll then have several days to activate the operating system. Activation is Microsoft’s way of forcing you to register your product. When you register it, Microsoft takes an image of your system, which prevents you from installing it on another computer. In other words, you can no longer use the same copy of the Windows 10 for every computer in your home.
But there’s another surprise that comes with activation. If you don’t activate it after several days, many of the features that come with it will not work until you do. So while you have an operating system that will work, you will never get out of it what it was intended to provide unless and until you activate it.
The more I think about it, the more I realize that our faith works very much the same way. All believers have some measure of faith, but some seem to have more than others. Why? The truth is I’m not so sure some Christians have more faith than others. They just seem to use it more. They have activated their faith with the owner who not only gave it to them, but who also purchased it for them. And like Windows 10, it was free for the asking.
So how do we, who seem to have less faith than others, activate the measure of faith we have? The Bible provides the answers to that question.
First and foremost, we must realize that the faith we have doesn’t just belong to us. It is a gift and always works in concert with God. This is graphically pointed out in Acts when Peter healed a crippled man. In fact, Peter told him (and us), “By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong.” (Acts 3:16) Indeed, Peter agreed with something Paul once said, “Your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.” (1 Corinthians 2:5)
Paul also taught us that our faith is directly tied to our knowledge of God’s Word. “Faith comes by hearing,” he told the Church at Rome, “and hearing by the Word of God.” (Romans 10:17) In other words, the more we learn about the power of God, the more we realize how much it can apply to the problems that come our way.
But James reminds us that we must not just be hearers of the word. We must apply what we hear. “Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves,” he wrote in his letter to Christians in Jerusalem, but “Do what it says.” (James 1:22) He later concluded that if we can’t put action behind our faith, then our faith is dead.
So if your faith seems to be little short, maybe you’re not following the principles outlined in God’s Word. The truth is God gives each of us a measure of faith that will see us through life. Remember, “The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him.” (Lamentations 3:25)
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