Increase Our Faith

Luke 17
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
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I think that Jesus' challenge here is in direct answer to the apostles' request. They want to want faith. That is, they realize it would be better to have more faith, but they cannot force themselves to believe certain things that they believe they should believe. Jesus sees the circular trap of doubt and issues a singular challenge: JUMP!

There are many who resist the post-modern theology of a leap of faith. Reason and faith must be in harmony, certainly. But what does the mind make of Jesus' challenge regarding seeds and mountains?

Perhaps faith in the little things grows until, eventually, moving mountains and other seemingly permanent objects, is no longer a matter of suspending reason. But from our humble position of faithlessnes, the faith-filled world appears irrational and it is not until we begin to believe that things make sense.

Certainly there are many who come to Christ because He makes the most sense. He is reasonable. So which comes first, the chicken or the egg?

I suspect that God deals with each individual differently, according to how he made them. So one man might approach Christ through his reason and other through his intellect. But it is God's intention that we would all, in the end, approach him with everything - heart, mind and strength - and Love him with everything.