Satisfied. Content. Complacent. I imagine these and any other number of similar words could essentially describe the attitude that most people in this world bring to their faith. They’ve gone so far and feel no need to go any further. No need to study. No need to grow. No need to increase their faith. They have Christianity just the way they want it and feel no need to have it any other way, even if it is God’s way.
That is not the type of faith we see painted throughout the pages of scripture. Relentless. Unyielding. Ferocious. Those are words that should describe the type of faith people of God want to have. A faith that is never satisfied. A faith that doesn’t measure itself by the famine of faith around them. But a faith that measures itself only by its own potential and God’s expectation.
In my mind I think of people like Moses. Moses had a point in his life where he was content with his faith. That contentment was on full display in Exodus 3-4 when he was confronted by God and commissioned for a very special mission and in the moment he tried to talk his way out of it. For every reason God gave him to go Moses thought of another excuse for why he didn’t want to. But that all changed when Moses got a taste of what purpose is. And when he got a taste of what purpose is then he began to develop his faith into being a faith that simply was not going to be satisfied.
Moses’ faith developed so much, in fact, that he withstood the negativity of the Israelite people for 40 years, enduring their constant derision, attempts at mutiny, and rejection of his leadership. He was so invested in his work of faith that at one point his father-in-law had to sit him down and advise him to ease his burden by delegating some responsibilities to others (Exodus 18:17ff). While Moses’ workload wasn’t healthy it did point to his devotion to a cause he had previously tried to avoid. Throughout his recorded life it is evident that Moses was truly a man with a faith that was never satisfied. It was likely with that unrelenting faith in mind that the Holy Spirit wrote of Moses:
By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned (Hebrews 11:23-29).
There are so many great heroes of faith in the Bible whose lives tell stories similar to that of Moses. Lives who were defined by faith more than anything else. Those who were willing to ignore comfort, shun ease, delay pleasure while enduring great hardship all because of an unrelenting faith. That type of faith, in some ways, is self-sustaining. And all that I mean by that is that that type of faith inherently seeks greater faith. It wants to grow. Our plea to God should be similar to that of the apostles when they said, “Lord, increase our faith” (Luke 17:5). Make it a faith that is never content, that is never complacent. Let’s have a faith that is never satisfied.
-Andy Brewer