Read Matthew 11
We were recently on vacation in the Pacific Northwest. Tim and I spent a few days in cities and a few days exploring the mountains, waterfalls and beach fronts that make this area of the country so beautiful. Early in the trip, we traveled to several serene areas outside Portland, Oregon, including a National Forest that provided amazing views of Mt. Hood. As I was standing in the sun, looking at the majesty of something that seemed huge and was still so far away, I was reminded of Mark 11:23 and the idea what if I had enough faith, I could command a mountain to throw itself into the sea.
I stood there, looking over Mt. Hood, with one question in my heart. If I said move, would the mountain move? Would it disappear? Would it just be…gone?
The logical part of my brain answered right away: of course not. That’s not possible. That’s not even what that really means…that doesn’t define your faith, who you are and what you believe. And, that’s true. And it’s not. While my faith is not defined by whether or not the mountain would get up and move because I had said it was supposed to, it is defined by how much I trust that God would really do it if I asked and if it was His plan.
The faithful part of me wonders – do I have enough faith? Sure, I have faith, but do I really believe – do I believe that if my life depended on it, or the life of those I love, I could command that mountain to move and it would?
Sometimes.
Faith is a constantly changing, constantly evolving thing in my world. It is defined not by the ability of the “supernatural” to occur, but instead in whether or not I believe, in my core, that the extraordinary is possible.
Have you read that verse and wondered about the size of your faith? Have you wondered if it’s big enough to move the mountains in your life?