Luke 17:3-5 “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
Do you remember Solomon’s prayer at Gibeon? His father, King David, had died. He had been sorting through officials in the past royal administration, the “deep state” if you will, trying to figure out who was loyal to him and who had other agendas. Some had to be banished. Others executed. Even within his own family there were attempts to undermine the legitimacy of his administration. He had recently married, and he went to Gibeon to offer God a thousand sacrifices.
There the Lord appeared to him and offered him a blank check. Ask for anything. “What should I give you?” It was an open-ended offer.
Solomon didn’t do the normal thing. He didn’t make the kind of request we might expect. He didn’t ask God to make his life easier–more money, less enemies. He asked God to change his heart, to give him one that paid close attention, that could judge fairly and distinguish right from wrong. He didn’t want to be free from the challenge ahead. He wanted to be able to meet it. It was one of those rare occasions when God’s children get the question right.
We have a similar example with the apostles in Luke 17. Jesus had been teaching his disciples about the danger of Christian leaders doing things that undermine the faith of the people they serve. They can’t be soft on sin. They certainly can’t embrace it for themselves. They have to confront it.
But then they can’t be stingy with grace, either. They have to be generous with “I forgive you.” Doing either one can be hard. Doing both with consistency and love tests our human limits.
So the disciples ask for help. But they don’t seek the easy path. “Well then, Lord, don’t put us in those kinds of situations. Surround us with good people who don’t commit many sins.” Or, “Give us pliable people who are easily led and are happy to take their licks when the time comes.” Or, “Then give us something easier to do. Duties with less stress and better pay would be nice.”
No, they ask God to change them. “Increase our faith,” they pray. They see that the solution does not begin with easier lives. It begins when God’s grace changes their hearts.
That’s where we need to start, too, every day. Increase our faith.
