Thank you for helping to support Peace Devotions through your prayers, likes, and shares.
If you’d like to support our ministry financially, you can donate here.
I Want a Stronger Faith
Ephesians 4:14-15
I want a stronger faith. Maybe you’ve thought that before. Maybe you’ve prayed that before. If we want stronger muscles, we got to work out. We got to lift weights. We have to eat, right. We have to push ourselves. If you want to get better at piano, if you want to get better at shooting three pointers, if you want to get better at painting, you have to practice over and over and over. Is faith like that? Is it about grinding really hard and putting all of our effort into being a better Christian, and to digging deep to believing more?
Not quite. Faith is more like hunger. You can’t make yourself feel more hungry. You’re either hungry or you’re not. In a similar way, we can’t force ourselves to be stronger believers.
And yet in Ephesians, Paul says this
The goal is that we would no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching… Instead, speaking the truth in love, we would in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head. (Ephesians 4:14-15)
So how do we grow? How do we do that? How do we get a stronger faith? To strengthen our faith, the answer is never to turn inside. It’s not about trying really hard. It’s not about putting in more effort. The answer really isn’t about you at all. It’s about turning to the things that God says and promises will strengthen our faith. Those things are his Word. His Word attached to water and baptism and his Word attached to the bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper.
When doubts come, when questions roll around in our minds, questions like am I good enough? Am I strong enough? Is my faith big enough? Am I Christian enough? Have I done too many bad things? Is God’s grace for me? The answer is never found here [inside you]. The answer is always found here in His word.
And the biggest answer that we find is, no, we are not good enough. But Jesus is. His grace and his mercy are enough. His righteousness is enough. His forgiveness is enough to cover up every single sin, every regret, every single mistake in our life. When you want a stronger faith, remember that the answer is not found inside. Remember, the focus of our faith is always on Jesus. And that’s what Scripture does. It continually points us to Christ. It is through that that we find our ultimate assurance and comfort, and it’s through that that our faith in him ultimately grows. Amen.
