What does it mean to have faith? Or to be faithful?
For the ancient Hebrews in the Book of Habakkuk, which we
read from this Sunday, to have faith
is to assent with one’s heart, and with one’s life. If you pledge your life to the promise God
has made, if you believe that God will fulfill that promise, and if,
consequently, you trust and are obedient, then you are a person of faith,
and can live without fear: the just one, because of his faith, shall
live. Our problems often have their root
in our own desire for control, and we tend to obsess about God’s timelines; sometimes, we just need to "let go and let God," as the saying goes. Yet, should
we falter, should we assert our own desire for control, there is always the possibility
to return to obedience. Psalm 95’s call
to harden not your hearts is
essentially an invitation to covenant fidelity, and to kneel before God is to return to the obedience to which faith calls
us. Then we will hear God’s voice, rather than shutting it out by means of
disobedience and obstinacy.
Our New Testament texts this week reaffirm that the ancient
ideas of the Hebrews still hold for us today.
When the apostles in Luke’s gospel ask Jesus to increase [their] faith, they are looking for some kind of greater
power or authority; Jesus’ response – if
you had faith the size of a mustard seed – suggests that what they are
asking for is not what they need. They,
too, must simply trust and obey, following God’s commands, loving God and
neighbor, trusting in the promise. It is
their duty to serve; it is the
fulfillment of the commitment of their life to be trusting and obedient, opening
their hearts in trust. Their faith
doesn’t need to be greater, it just needs to be.
And Paul, in his second letter to Timothy, reaffirms the
need for faith through grace – the gift
of God that you have through the imposition of my hands. Rather than questioning God’s motives or
actions, Timothy needs to assent to God’s promise not only with his mind, but
with his heart, with strength and
courage. Everything he does, everything
he is, should be committed to that relationship, now personified in
Christ.
This week's readings thus call us to take stock. Are we committed to our relationship with God
in everything that we do, and in all that we are? What might that kind of commitment even look
like? Do we truly have faith?
This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture Class.
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