What Happens When We Lack Faith in God. Friday 17th Week

Breakfast With the Word Friday 17th Week Ordinary Time of the Year B

 

 Matthew 13:54-58

 

 

When we lack faith in God means simply an acceptance that what God says does not deserve to be trusted. It means that we are not truly certain that God can do something we ask of Him. Lack of faith goes with lack of trust. Therefore, when we lack faith in God, it means we do not accept or do not fully rely on Him to do what we ask of Him.

For example, when I was working in one of the secondary schools, one of the teachers chose a student to represent their class in a debating competition. Many people kicked against it and requested the teacher to change him to another person.

Their reason was that they knew truly that He cannot represent them well. In essence, they do not trust Him to do what they want. So, when we lack faith in God, it is a message that we do not trust God wholeheartedly. 

This is the reason some people wander from one place to another seeking quick solutions to their problems. 

The fact is that they go to church but sincerely and deeply in their hearts they do not trust God to do what they ask for. 

Hence, lack of faith in God is not a virtue of a true child of God. God detests lack of faith. In many passages of the bible, Jesus warns against it. 

Faith and lack of it are two great forces that affect us either positively or negatively. Each one we choose affects us in its unique way. Littered in the pages of the bible are wonderful testimonies about the power of Faith. 

To have faith also leads to positive results. But when we lack faith in God, the results could be negative.

 In today’s gospel, because of people’s lack of faith, Jesus did not perform many miracles as He used to do. This in essence shows how God detests this. 

 

 

Read More

 

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A Treasure You Must Acquire.

 

Everything has an End. Tuesday 17th Week Ordinary Time

 

Everything has a Beginning. Memorial of Ss. Joachim and Anne

 

Do Not Limit What God Can Do.

 

There is An Enemy Within

 

 

The Gospel of Today.

 

 

Today’s gospel says that Jesus went to his hometown and taught them. His people were surprised. Their surprise was because they know him very well, they know his background.

They know his father and mother, and cousins. They ask “where did the man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? This is the carpenter’s son, surely? Is not his mother the woman called Mary, and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Jude?”. Because of this, they did not accept Him.

Jesus grew up in their neighbourhood. They tend to know how He started. Their surprise was because they underrated Him. They never expected Him to preach as He did.

Do you know that sometimes when we feel we are so close to God, or when we think we have full academic knowledge of the things of God, or we think we are closer than others, we tend to take many things for granted?

We begin to even see others as already damned. Sometimes because of how close we think we have known God more than others, we begin to see some things as ordinary. This continues to affect our spirituality.

There are many today, who no longer respect the sacred. The fear of the sacred leaves them because they feel they know some secrets that others do not know. Some people feel that they are the most righteous. Therefore, when you talk about repentance, they count themselves as worthy and feel there are people you are talking to. As for them, they are always in good standing with God.

Some people also feel that because they are close to the ministers of the sanctuaries, they have known everything. The fear and respect for the sacred gradually begin to wane. Over familiarity breeds contempt. As we go close to God, we have to watch this gradually.

 

 

Jesus and His People.

 

 

It is a surprise today to see that those who are supposed to be glad that one of their own is growing in wisdom are those who are at the forefront to attack Him.

Sometimes the saying that over-familiarity breeds contempt is true. Many times, the people who will surely fight you are those who think they know all your secrets.

Sometimes what we suffer are not those outside but inside. It is not a new thing today that some families are yet where they are because of the battle within.

Like Jesus’ town who instead of praising their own tried to talk Him down, we try to fight ourselves bringing down people whom God might have used to save us or the family.

Most of the problems we suffer in the families are within not outside. Because we do not want the son or daughter of the other person to come to the limelight we refuse to promote him rather we group to bring him or her down.

Many people have also closed their channels of blessings because they are fighting the other person, not knowing that the person they are fighting could be the one God puts on his or her path to show him the way.

A family would be praying that God would uplift them. God hears their prayers and decides to raise one of their own so that through him others would see light. Instead of the family members giving him support, they fight him from every angle. Because of this, they remain where they are.

In a country, God may have blessed a particular tribe so that through them, the country would see a green light. But instead of the government giving them equal support, they fight them. Yet the country continues to go down.

When we do not promote ourselves and refuse to promote others, where will the destiny helper come? When we refuse to allow some people close to us to show their gifts and talents and we cannot do them also, then we will surely remain where we are.

2 . Check very well, many who seem to be your enemies today are conglomerates of those who were once your friends.

Check those who fight you secretly, they are those who think they know all your secrets. When you check those who stab you in the back, they are those people who feel they know the hidden truth about you.

The worst mistake one can make is to think he/she has full knowledge of anyone. The person can still change at any time. Only God knows the truth about everything.

 

 

Those Who Think They Know.

 

 

1. In today’s gospel, the people who think they know Jesus, refuse to believe in Him. Many of us who think we know Jesus more than others sometimes refuse to listen to the word. Some of them fight the priests working in their parishes. When some listen to the word, they debate which one they will accept and the one they will not accept. The reason is that they feel they know more than the preacher of the gospel.

Sometimes we feel we know the person speaking. We know him in and out. Many times because of our closeness with those working for God, we continually lose faith in God. Some of their flocks brand some ministers of God as more spiritual and others as non-spiritual.

Hence, when the non-spiritual leader is preaching we sleep and don’t take His words seriously. We pay less attention because we take him as carnal.

The truth here is that it is not our function to say who is who because we are not the one who sees in physical and spiritual. Over familiarity sometimes causes a lack of faith. God can also work through any person. It is God that is working. A Human instrument is only a tool. Therefore, let us believe the Word of God because it is the Word of God.

 

 

These Happen When We Lack Faith in God.

 

 

In today’s Gospel, Instead of the Jews listening to Jesus, they were busy questioning the source of His Wisdom. This is an indication that they do not truly understand who Jesus is. When we lack faith in God, we may also see Him as ordinary or somebody that is not true.

The people today may still see Jesus as an ordinary homeboy. So, they did not take Him seriously.

When we also lack knowledge of God, we lose faith easily. Sometimes we feel God is not truly in control. Because of our lack of faith, we question everything, subjugating everything within the confines of reason and relegating faith. We ask how can a priest hear my confessions? How can a bread turn into the body of the Lord? Etc.

Reason is good but know that faith is not limited to the classroom of reason. The realm of faith is beyond our human reasoning.

 

 

 2. Because of their lack of faith, Jesus did not perform miracles. This shows us how unbelief could also be powerful. 

Therefore, when we refuse to believe, when we see everything as ordinary when we see everything as mechanical etc., they appear the way we see them. 

Therefore, we begin to lose their spiritual value and hence take them for granted. We question everything. 

When we lack faith in God, we fear that He may not answer our prayers. We go to mass just because others are attending, not because we see something extraordinary about it. We get tired of praying etc. 

What gladdens the heart of Jesus is a man that has astounding faith in Him like the Centurion.

Faith is the secret of miracles. Lack of faith can steal your blessings. Do not be surprised that what is truly affecting us is our lack of faith in God. 

This is when we do things because others are doing them, not because we believe in what we are doing. We see this also when we pray or work because we do them to fulfil our daily obligation not necessarily because we believe. Lack of faith may not be taken seriously by many of us, but it could be highly devastating.

It is a lack of faith that makes a leader in the church go secretly in the night to seek diabolic powers.

It is the lack of faith that makes many Christians get tired of praying. Do you want to tell me that if we truly accept that Prayer is powerful, we will not be praying every day? Hence, is it not that prayer is not powerful, they get tired because we lack faith in whom we are praying to.

It is lack of faith that makes one not to bother if he goes to mass on time or late. He or she does not even take His mass seriously, Many see it as an avenue to search for new friends.

It is a lack of faith that will make someone also worry and cry and even stop going to God’s presence when problems come. Hence, he thinks that doing that is a waste of time and amounts to nothing.

If we truly trust that God is in charge of our problems, there is no need to cry and lose faith. It should then be at this time that we shall show how deeply our trust in God is. When we lack faith in God, our actions towards God define everything. 

May God have mercy on us and give us the grace to have strong faith in Him. May He be with you today

Amen.