"I assure you that if you have faith as big as a mustard seed, you can say to this hill, ‘Go from here to there!’ and it will go. You could do anything!” Matthew 17:20b, GNT

 

Many years ago, when Namibia was still called South West Africa, there was a fair at a school in a small town. Being a farming community, one of the competitions at the fair was target shooting. A man named Mr Dippenaar, who originally came from Namaqualand, won the event and received a full lamb as first prize. At the prize giving ceremony, the headmaster said: “You were lucky to have won first prize today Mr Dippenaar.” While receiving the prize, he told the headmaster: “No sir, this is not luck, this is ability.” To be able to shoot that well took many hours of practice.

 

Our verse for today has always fascinated me because it has always seemed impossible to me that something like that can ever happen. To move a mountain from one place to another will certainly take a lot more than luck or ability.

 

Faith is neither luck nor ability. Nobody can practise moving mountains and nobody can ever exercise his or her faith to the point of being able to move mountains. Faith, according to the Bible, comes primarily by hearing and meditating on the Word of God. Faith is a gift extended to us through the grace of God.

 

Jesus certainly does not mean that people should go around moving mountains whenever they want to, but he uses this example to illustrate to us what an extraordinary thing faith really is. Believing in God means that in the spiritual domain, nothing will be impossible for us.

 

Mr Dippenaar and his “it’s ability, and not luck” way of looking at life became a lifelong inspiration to me. I realise that to be successful one has to work hard and practise a lot – except when it comes to faith. The more I practise believing in God, the more I struggle with faith; and the less I try to create my own version of faith, the stronger my faith becomes.

 

Prayer: Thank you Lord for the gift of faith in spite of the fact that we do not deserve it and cannot earn it through hard work or exercise. Please help us display our faith so that others will yearn to have the same. Amen