What Does It Take To Have Faith?

I was thinking the other day about the faith of Jesus’ disciples. Today, when someone hears the Gospel story, they hear the whole thing. They hear of Jesus’ miraculous birth, His resistance of temptation, the miracles that He performed, and His death, resurrection, and ascension. They are also shown the fulfillment of the scriptures regarding His coming. A very persuasive story that Jesus is the Messiah. But the disciples had none of that. They might of heard of a virgin from Nazareth giving birth but would have no way of knowing if Jesus was that child. They witnessed Him performing miracles, but He was not the only one doing that. They even performed some themselves. And they couldn’t even understand when He told them about his eventual death and resurrection. No, those twelve guys could have very well been following an imposter. We know from the Bible that His miracles were almost always met with astonishment from His disciples. Even when He did something that He’d already done before (e.g. raising the dead, feeding the multitudes). The only one who expected miracles of Him was His mother. So it must have been hard for them to keep following Him. To not just go back to their old lives where they knew what to expect.

I had often thought that if I had lived back then I would have followed Him with no doubts. But now I think that is misguided. It’s more accurate to say if I had lived back then, knowing what I know now, that I would follow Him with no doubts.

So why is it so hard for us (believers) to put complete trust in Him now? We see the evidence. We know how He defeated sin and death. We confess that He is the Messiah, the Son of God. But we still worry about the future. We still cry out “why won’t you help me?” when we don’t see an answer to our prayers. We still let opportunities to tell others about Him pass by because we’re worried about what they might think of us. I hope for the faith of the disciples. To wake up every morning choosing to follow Him even though I don’t know what the future will bring. Even though I know it will make me look like a fool to some. Even though I have questions upon questions regarding His will and where He has led me. Even though sometimes it is scary. He has called us to follow Him just like He called the disciples. So let’s put down our nets and leave our boats on the shore.