He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. —Matthew 8:26
When I was in junior high chemistry, we learned a simple lesson that has stuck with me ever since. Our teacher taught us how to measure oddly shaped stones through the law of displacement. He told us to fill a beaker to the rim with liquid—to the full measure. Then, we were given four or five rocks of different shapes and sizes. He instructed us to gently place the rocks in the container and catch the overflowing water. He said that we could determine the size of each rock by measuring the liquid that was displaced. Do you know what? It worked. We could calculate the volume of a rock by measuring the lost fluid.
Once we carefully removed the stones, we also noticed that the beaker was no longer full. The stones effectively displaced the water. They never got permission from the water to take its place in the jar. It simply acquired whatever room it needed in order to be in the container. Are you getting the picture here? God wants you to live with a full measure of faith. You can fill yourself with the Word and with faith, or you can fill yourself with other things that will literally displace the greater things He longs for you to possess.
God longs for you to be full of faith, but you can’t expect to have the same measure of faith if you are tolerating doubt and fear. Like the stones displaced the water, doubt and fear will literally take the place of faith. If you allow fear or doubt into your heart, they will evict the force of faith that you’ve worked so hard to build.
Jesus said things like, “Stop doubting and only believe,” or, “You can move mountains if you have faith and don’t doubt.” He said things like this because He knew it would take the full measure of faith to live this life victoriously. He knew if we allowed doubt to slip into our hearts that it would take the space of the faith we need to access everything that’s available to us.
Similarly, we can’t be in faith and in fear at the same time. Fear actually chases faith out just like light runs darkness out of a room. Check the scriptures—whenever Jesus rebuked His disciples for a lack of faith, He would usually say, “Why did you fear?” Fear doesn’t just render your faith ineffective, it replaces it.
The Word of God tells us that the righteous will live by faith. To live this life for God and to live it effectively and victoriously, we need all of the faith we can muster. We build our faith by spending time in God’s Word, but we must also care for the faith that we already have. We cannot allow fear and doubt to creep into our lives. Keep yourself full of faith by continuing to feed on the Word. Be quick to recognize and throw away the rocks and stones of doubt and fear. Then you’ll have the full measure of faith to tap into the power of God for an overcoming life in Him.
Scriptural Context Matthew 8:23-27
Concept Reinforcement Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done.” —Matthew 21:21
Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue… —John 12:42
But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin. —Romans 14:23
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