City Life Starter

Written by Scott Fiddler

The Word

5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

Luke 17:5–6

Reflection

I think as a lot, Christians are pretty good about not being offended by less-than-righteous conduct of non-Christians. We don’t expect much from non-Christians by way of morality. For fear of offending us, they don’t need to watch their language or hide that they are living with their significant other. I suppose it’s a nice gesture, but it’s not necessary.  

While we may feel bad that they are hurting themselves by their conduct, they are not hurting us. It’s a different story though if they engage in conducted intended to hurt us.

Personal offense is a particularly prickly pear. It is, well, personal. If you intentionally hurt me, it will be difficult for me not to be offended. That’s because when someone sins against us it not only causes us pain; it transgresses our sense of justice. 

The image of God runs deep in us, and it retains an acute sensitivity to injustice. I suspect that’s why righteous indignation feels so good to us. The problem is that a personal offense fertilized with our thoughts of injustice can grow deep roots of bitterness in our heart. Then the more we consider the offense, the more our sense of justice feeds the bitterness, and the roots spread and go deeper.

It’s no coincidence Jesus mentioned the mulberry tree in this passage of scripture. The mulberry tree has an extensive, invasive root system, making it a very difficult tree to uproot. Its roots can live hundreds of years, making them nearly impossible to uproot once established. Those pervasive roots draw water and nutrients from the soil, contributing to the long life and of the mulberry tree. The roots often outlive the trunk. The root system also enables the mulberry tree to thrive in poor soils and climates.

It’s the same with unforgiveness and bitterness. The more we think of the offense, the more entrenched the bitterness becomes in our heart. The bitterness can live below the surface our of lives even after we think we have removed the trunk, and it can take root in the best of hearts where there is little to feed it.  We know these things by experience, even if we’ve never been taught them.

Jesus’ disciples knew these things too. So, when Jesus told them, “If your brother sins against you you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him,” (Luke 17:4) they knew what a difficult ask that was.  Understandably, they thought, “We need a lot more faith than we have now to do that!” See Luke 17:5.

Where this teaching takes an unexpected turn is when Jesus tells His disciples they didn’t need great faith; they only needed a very little faith to uproot bitterness and unforgiveness. What? How’s that?

Application

Think about it. We don’t want to forgive because we’re afraid the person who sinned against us will get away with it. But even the barest faith in God informs us God will ultimately judge all people—they will not get away with it.

Similarly, we think the person doesn’t deserve our forgiveness. But it was by beginner’s faith we were convinced we needed to repent to receive God’s forgiveness. How then can we deny another the same forgiveness we sought from God for ourselves? 

In short, to forgive others we don’t need the faith to walk on water. If we have enough faith to be born again, we have enough faith to forgive others. 

Prayer

Lord, help me to always keep my heart free of bitterness and unforgiveness. Amen.