Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Luke 17 before reading the devotional below.
Have you ever seen a really good magic trick? The kind that leaves you with that sense of awe and wonder — how did they do it?? I still remember as a child watching David Copperfield make an entire train car disappear with a ring of people holding hands around it. I have seen it a few times since and I am still amazed and perplexed.
Jesus was like this with faith. Unlike a magician, however, he’s trying to give away his secrets. He’s trying to tell his disciples in any way he can what his kingdom is like. But they can’t grasp it. “If you had just a tiny bit of faith, like this tiny seed here…” is like David Copperfield trying to explain a complex card trick to someone like me. Talk slowly and use lots of analogies. His followers had so many questions, and he takes the time to try to answer all of them even though they really cannot comprehend the mystery he is trying to reveal.
Here’s your freedom for today: you don’t have to understand God. In fact, you can’t. Faith and one’s spiritual life inherently contain mystery. When we follow the Spirit deeper, the mystery only becomes greater. If you have doubts or questions or things that don’t make sense, that’s great! We are in far greater spiritual danger when we think we have everything figured out.