What do you tell someone who believes in Jesus but is distressed because his faith is so weak? Many of us have experienced this or seen it first hand. An older man in the hospital cannot sleep because he’s worried about a past sin; a woman with a tender conscience isn’t sure she belongs to Jesus even though she truly loves his word. What do we say to those (or ourselves!) when faith is at its low point? Puritan Thomas Brooks said it well.
“A weak faith doth as much justify and as much unite a man to Christ as a strong faith. It gives a man as much title to and interest in Christ as the strongest faith in the world.”
“The promises of eternal happiness and blessedness are not made over to the strength of faith, but to the truth of faith; not to the degrees of faith, but to the reality of faith. No man that is saved is saved upon the account of the strength of his faith, but upon the account of the truth of his faith.”
“The weakest faith shall grow stronger and stronger. A weak believer shall go on from faith to faith. Christ is the finisher as well as the author of our faith (Rom 1.17, Heb 12.2). Christ will nurse up this blessed babe, and will not allow it to be strangled in its infancy.”
“A little faith is faith, as a spark of fire is fire, a drop of water is water, a little star is a star, a little pearl is a pearl. Truly, thy little faith is a jewel that God doth highly prize and value.”
“Well remember this, that the least measure of true faith will bring thee to salvation, and possess thee of salvation, as well as the greatest measure. A little faith accompanies salvation as well as a great faith, a weak faith as well as a strong. Therefore do not say, O precious soul, that thou has not that faith that accompanies salvation, because thou hast not such a strong faith, or such and such degrees of faith.”
True faith (whether strong or weak) saves because its object (Jesus) is always strong!
Above quotes from Thomas Brooks, Heaven On Earth, p. 215-216.
shane lems
sunnyside wa
