5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
This is exactly what we would answer if we were told to forgive repeatedly. The task is too difficult for us. We feel the other person should “learn their lesson” and not do it again. So when they do it again, and we must forgive, it is too much. We need more faith, faith to trust in the middle of this process. I imagine the Lord feels frustrated at times when we don’t “learn our lesson” and we repeat our sins again and again. Just as a parent hopes their child will grow up, so the Lord wants us to mature in our walk. We expect new believers to stumble. We expect mature believers to be able to handle the small bumps without stumbling. Maturity brings stronger faith. This doesn’t mean that the mature believer is stronger on their own. It does mean that they trust less in their own strength and more in the strength of the Lord. The reason the new believer stumbles is because they think they can do it by themselves, in their own strength. That is what the disciples recognize. They know they need more faith, more dependence on the Lord. The next verse makes the point that the size of faith is meaningless. It is where we place our faith that is important. If we place our faith anywhere but in the Lord, the object of our faith will fail eventually. The other person, or even ourselves, will let us down. They will fail. The disciples want more faith. Jesus tells them to correct where they place their faith. If they trust themselves to forgive the repeat offender, they will fail. If they trust the Lord, forgiveness will be there when it is needed. Who are you trusting? I can bet you are like me. There is a mixture of trust in Jesus and trust in other people and things. I am just being honest. It takes time to give up our misplaced trust, but the outcome is a wonderfully freeing faith in Jesus. He never lets us down.
The Arnold Journey 