I Need a Favor-Cross of Christmas

Part 2: I Need a Favor

Have you ever asked God for a favor?
Maybe you pray like God owes you.

Before bedtime, my sons will pray things like:

“God, let the Chargers win tomorrow’s game.”
“God, I pray everyone remembers the lyrics for the Christmas musical.”

It’s almost as if they’re asking for a favor. They approach Jesus with a posture of “You owe me.”
They’re saying, “I’ve been good all year, so give me what I want.”

Do you approach God with one of those heart postures?
I have.

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While sitting in a Bible study, the topic of prayer came up. It may have been near the end during prayer requests or randomly during the discussion. I shared that my prayers had changed over the years.

I try my best not to ask God for favors.
Because He doesn’t owe me anything.

I stopped praying for financial security. Rather, I prayed people would feel secure, knowing the Lord provides. I stopped praying for healing. Instead, I started praying that hurting people would see their need for Jesus. I’m not saying we shouldn’t pray for financial, physical, or emotional healing. But it’s wrong when we do it because we think God owes us.

I changed my prayers because my puffed-up faith was getting in the way of what I and people really need.

But after this time of confession something still felt off.

After sharing my convictions, a friend said:

“But the faith of a mustard seed can move mountains.”

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That comment led me to the second part of the Fig Tree story. In this part, Jesus tells us how powerful faith can be.

After the withering of the fig tree, the disciples ask a question and Jesus answers.

“When the disciples saw it, they were amazed, saying, ‘How did the fig tree wither so quickly?’
Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.
If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
— Matthew 21:20–22

Hmm, I thought.
Was my friend right?

In Mark’s version, Jesus says that with faith the size of a mustard seed, you can move a mountain. It will throw itself into the sea.

I asked myself:
Can it really be that simple?
Should I take Jesus’ words at face value or am I missing something deeper?

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To find the hidden meaning, I found it helpful to define faith.

Surprisingly, there is no single definition of faith. It’s a word that seems to be stretched in many directions by society. A quick search on Dictionary.com or Google gives eight definitions. For our purposes, I’ll define it this way:

Faith is complete trust or confidence in someone or something that is not based on 100% proof.

Let me give you an example.

I proposed to my wife with a fair amount of confidence. You could say I had a lot of faith that she would say yes. I had a lot of proof:

• I bought the ring she wanted
• We survived a long-distance relationship
• We dated for five years

At that point, there was no way she would say no… right?

And yet, in the back of my mind, the thought lingered: She could say no.

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Like my proposal, we often build up our faith through works that we believe are proof.
We fellowship with believers, pray every day, and read our Bible daily.

We think we’re strengthening our faith through our works. Our faith by our own works is so strong that we’ll never doubt anything Jesus says.
We’ll never doubt God’s plan for our lives.

But when we examine our hearts, we realize that any work without God as our footing isn’t on solid ground. And once we realize we’re not standing on solid ground, doubt creeps in.

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Peter and the disciples claimed to have faith and no doubt. Peter, arguably the most faithful disciple, always thought he had enough faith.

• He walked on water… until he became scared.
• He calls Jesus the Son of God… until he’s rebuked for rebuking Christ.
• He vowed to die for Jesus… until Jesus was arrested.

The other disciples were no different. They traveled, ate, and slept with Jesus. They saw Him feed 5,000, walk on water, calm storms, and heal countless people. John even says there aren’t enough pages to record all of Jesus’ miracles.

Yet, where were these faithful disciples when Jesus was crucified?

Hiding in a room behind locked doors for fear of the Jews.

If they doubted, then we should expect that we doubt too.

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We need to realize something important in this story.
The requirement Jesus gives to move a mountain is unattainable.

Our faith, on its own, is never strong enough.

When we pray, we often reflect on what we believe are wonderful works. We say, “My faith should move that mountain.” Jesus, you said, “If I have no doubt, I will see people healed.“

But Jesus wants us to see there is more at stake than a mountain moving prayer. That’s why He may not move a mountain in your life. He absolutely could, but in His sovereignty, He sometimes chooses not to.

That doesn’t mean we stop praying for mountains to move in our lives. Jesus healed people and still wants to heal people. But my prayer now is for us to understand the deeper meaning to Jesus’ message.

This parable has nothing to do with the strength of my faith.

But it has everything to do with the strength of Jesus.

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It’s no coincidence that Jesus is revealing our doubts and lack of faith. He shows our faith is like a fig tree, one simple gust of wind and it can all be uprooted. One strong wind leads us to doubting our roots will hold firm to the ground.

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Looking to Christmas

Next week is Christmas Eve. Churches will be illuminated with candlelight. Songs of praise will be sung to the glory of Christ’s birth. But more importantly, we’ll celebrate not just the coming of this baby Messiah.

We’ll have gracious hearts because of where the baby is headed.
We’ll rejoice at the favor Christ came to do for us.

Not because we asked, but because of His unconditional love for you and me.

It’s where Jesus says:
Stop looking at the mountains in your life and start looking at Me.

Start looking at the Cross.