He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." -Matthew 17:20
I think that all of us have something that fascinates us, and I have long been fascinated with the subject of mountain climbing. Specifically, climbing Mt. Everest. Now, I have no plans to try and climb Mt. Everest (or any mountain, for that matter), but I am intrigued with why people attempt it in the first place. I watch every documentary I can find on the subject, and I never tire of reading about it. Here is what I have learned:
- The elevation is 29,035. The mountain was named after Sir George Everest in 1865, the British surveyor-general of India. It was once known as Peak 15.
- The First Ascent: May 29,1953 by Sir Edmund Hillary, NZ and Tenzing Norgay, NP.
- Youngest person to make the climb: Temba Tsheri (NP) 15 on May 22, 2001.
- Oldest Person to make the climb: Sherman Bull May,25,2001 -64 years.
- First Legally Blind Person to make the climb: Erik Weihenmeyer May 25, 2001.
- Most dangerous area on mountain: Khumbu Ice Fall-19 deaths.
- Corpses remaining on Everest: about 120.
Here were people who were utterly committed to climbing that mountain, but what I want you to think about today isn’t mountain climbing, but mountain moving. Consider what Jesus said about moving the mountains that get in our way. What are some truths we learn from this? If you have faith that size of a mustard seed you can do what looks to be impossible. One thing I know for certain is this: never trying or giving up guarantees that what I desire to accomplish will not happen. I often believe that in order to accomplish God’s will in my life that I have to possess faith the size of the mountain itself. Jesus said nothing of the sort. The Lord said that even if we possess only a small amount of faith that we can do God’s will in ways that will exceed anything we would have believed possible. This is the nature of faith: Great faith is always desirable, but God can and will work with the faith do possess, even if it's only a small amount, or the size of a mustard seed.
We must begin somewhere, and if we only have a small amount of faith we can still accomplish what God would have us to do. The argument of, “Well, I just don’t have enough faith,” is not valid for the believer. What does the Bible say about the belief that we don’t have enough faith? We can ask for more. James 1:6 says:
"But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind."
The mountains we face can be moved from out of our way. By the power of God and through faith, we can have the victory in Christ.
