“The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Gal. 5:6
My study of the passages of Scripture in which Jesus comments on people’s faith has left me with a lot of unanswered questions and a few summary thoughts. I won’t burden you with my unanswered questions but I will share with you some thoughts and conclusions.
The only 2 people in the gospels that Jesus said had great faith had several things in common. One thing they had in common was that they were both Gentiles. Another thing they had in common is that they were not part of Jesus’ inner circle and finally, their great faith was demonstrated to the benefit of someone other than their selves. The centurion exercised his faith on behalf of his sick servant and the Canaanite lady exercised her faith on behalf of her demon possessed son. There is no indication whatsoever that the centurion’s servant and the woman’s son had faith for their own healing.
This is what faith is all about…loving God and loving others. Paul said “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” He said in another place that if you have faith that can move mountains but do not have love, you are nothing. In our deep inward yearning to live a life of significance, we certainly don’t want it said of us “you are nothing.”
Moving mountains, uprooting trees are only meaningful when done in the context of love. If you’re going to move a mountain, move a mountain that will lift someone else’s burdens that will change someone else’s destiny, which will restore someone else’s marriage, which will relieve someone else’s financial hardship, that will deliver from bondage someone in slavery.
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