How Much Faith is Enough?

I can always count on my father for an interesting observation. Several years ago I had taken a new position on staff at a church that shall remain nameless. As was their custom, my folks came to visit shortly after I began serving there. They attended Sunday morning worship, and met the ministry staff and many others with the usual and customary introductions. Following the service we made our way to a local restaurant for lunch.

At some point in the conversation that early afternoon, my Dad expressed, “That Senior Pastor of yours doesn’t have a lot of faith.” I looked at him rather incredulously and said, “What? Where did that come from?” He restated, “He just doesn’t have a lot of faith!” “Dad,” I implored, “What in the world do you mean?”

He said, “Well, he wears a belt AND suspenders. And besides that, he walks around with his hands in his pants pockets all the time! He just must not have much faith that his pants are going to stay up!”

Dad was only kidding—I think—but it does raise the question of how much faith is enough? A lot of people talk about it these days—having enough faith that God can heal, having enough faith that a miracle can be accomplished. Personally, I’m not so sure it’s a relevant concept. How do you measure “enough” faith anyway? When I read the gospels, I never see Jesus looking for “enough,” or an amount, of faith. In fact, Jesus’ perspective seems to be exactly the opposite. He said it was faith the size of a mustard seed—very small—that could move a mountain.

When Jesus looked up and saw the faith of the four men who had lowered their paralytic friend through the roof they had dug up (Mark 2:1-12), it seems He was not measuring the quantity of their faith so much as recognizing the quality of it. He says nothing about it, but His response to it was forgiveness and healing.

Certainly He saw a faith that had moved the men with compassion for their friend. He saw also a faith that moved them to action. They did something. They brought their friend to the house were Jesus was. Last but not least, He saw a faith that moved them to RADICAL action. They would not be denied. They stepped out of the box; they got their hands dirty. They risked offending the traditionalist, sophisticated church folks below. Mark says, they literally unroofed the roof!

Lord, I don’t know if I have “enough” faith. But give me a faith that will move me with compassion; that will move me to do something, that will move me to radical action. Lord, give me a faith that is willing to unroof the roof!