NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE: The kind of faith that moves mountains
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One of the defining traits of humans is our tendency to doubt. We contemplate and hesitate to a fault. Granted, some may do this more than others, but in general we all have moments when we doubt ourselves and we doubt others. Sometimes we grow pessimistic because we’ve seen good things not work out, or seemingly good people do bad things. We might doubt what someone says because we’ve been lied to before. We might doubt someone’s commitment to a relationship because so many relationships don’t last. We might doubt our ability to accomplish something, because we’ve failed before.
As humans, we are painfully aware of the reality of shortcomings and limitations, and so we have a doubting lens through which we see so much of the world.
This lens is proof of sin’s corruption in the human heart. We doubt because we know that there are things that are truly, absolutely, impossible for us. We are born dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1) and enslaved to sin’s control (John 8:34; Romans 6:6). Even after we trust in Jesus Christ to rescue our souls from sin’s penalty and power, we remain in these not-yet-made-perfect minds and bodies that must learn, daily, to submit to our new Master through whom ultimate victory in all things is made possible! The One who defeated our greatest enemies – sin and death – has proven this already.
Choosing to believe
And therein lies the battle that all Christians must fight. Every day, we must decide if we will remain in doubt and defeat, or if we will look to Jesus, “the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). We don’t trust in faith. We trust in Jesus, who ignites and sustains and perfects our faith in Him to do the things that are impossible for us to do. This trust, this faith, is our greatest act of worship, because it reveals a heart truly dedicated to believing and following God. In fact, it is the gateway to salvation: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Faith reveals a heart that has been transformed and able to see what an unregenerate heart could never see. The author of Hebrews wrote: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). And “…without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).
Halting doubt
It’s no wonder that God immediately called out His people who expressed doubt. The loving God that He is, He wanted to teach, and guide, and show His people that there was no place for doubt if you want to have a heart truly convinced of His power and dedicated to following Him. And that’s what He wants of us all, because only in that kind of faith can we rise above our earthly circumstances and see the reality of the heavenly places in which we are spiritually seated with Christ (Ephesians 2:6). Only that kind of faith can make us living, breathing testimonies of God’s glory – lights pointing to the hope of salvation in a dark and hopeless world.
And so, when Sarah doubted in her heart God’s promise to give her a son in her old age, God showed that He knew her inward thoughts and immediately challenged her lack of faith, asking: “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” (Genesis 18:14).
And when Peter doubted that Jesus could really enable him to walk on water, and he began to sink, Jesus refused to let him sink: “…immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’” (Matthew 14:31).
After Jesus’ crucifixion, His disciples were unable to make sense of the “impossible.” They feared and doubted the clear evidence that Jesus was alive and standing in front of them, and started to think they were seeing a ghost instead! So Jesus immediately directed his comments to their struggles to believe: “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have” (Luke 24:38-39).
There was one disciple not present in that interaction. He did not believe their story – that they had seen Jesus, alive and in His resurrected body. The unfortunate man has become known to us today as “doubting Thomas.” But later, Jesus lovingly appeared to Thomas, too, to ensure that his faith would be strengthened, and that doubt would not take root in his heart. “Reach your finger here,” he said to Thomas, “and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing” (John 20:27).
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