Within
these differences of faith, one grabs my attention rather distinctly. “As for the one who is weak in faith,
welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.”[3]First, there are those who are “weak
in faith”; second, they should feel just as “welcome” in the church as those with stronger faith; third, those
with stronger faith must help those with weaker faith avoid falling into “quarrels over opinions”.
One
of the reasons for weak faith is what I would call the Dead Sea Syndrome. The
Dead Sea is approximately 427 meters below sea level. As a result, it can only
receive the little bit of water that comes in to it. The rate of inflow and the
rate of evaporation are the same so the water level remains consistent.
However, because the Dead Sea cannot release its water, it has become so salty
that fish cannot survive.
The
Dead Sea illustrates what happens when we receive what is given to us in the
Lord, but do not pass it on to others. We simply become too salty! We struggle
to stay alive ourselves, and cannot pass life on to others. Our faith remains
weak because we are unable to experience the work of faith flowing through our
lives.
My
point is simply that, if we exercise whatever faith we have, no matter whether
it is strong or weak, the living waters can pass through us, instead of only to
us, and so our own quality of spiritual life will improve, and we will discover
that even weak faith, faith as small as a mustard seed, can move mountains.[4] All Jesus’ disciples have some measure of faith, and need to agree
with God that we will live by faith even while we grow up in faith.
In
fact, it is such a serious thing for us to determine to live by faith that Paul
declared that, “whatever does not proceed from faith is sin”.[5]He
makes the point that, even decisions in which believers have room to disagree,
each one must make their decision based on faith.
The
fact that the church is to welcome the one who is weak in faith should
encourage any who may be feeling those nagging “I’m worthless” thoughts that
Satan loves to stir up within us. We are to welcome each other no matter how
weak we are in faith. It should look like the way we welcome a little child who
is “weak” in so many ways, yet still has so much to offer us. As the youngest
and weakest of our children are still beloved to us all, so the weakest and
most immature among God’s people of faith should also feel that same experience
of being dearly loved.[6]
We
must see that welcoming someone of weak faith also has the requirement that we
are “not to quarrel over opinions”.
This is a dangerous trap. People of weak faith often focus on problems. Where
we see something wonderful God is speaking to us, they see the “what about
this…” kind of issues. It is tempting to get into arguments about the meanings
of words, and opinions about interpretations. These arguments tend to cause
quarrels and bring about divisions. People forsake welcoming those who have
weak faith because we are too busy being mad at them for their opinion, or the
way their weak faith mishandles things.
Paul
gave many warnings about quarreling about words, or arguing over opinions, so I
won’t say more.[7] We simply need to agree with this part of things as well, that we
will welcome weak-faith people (including one another), and will focus on faith
rather than opinions.
I
realize that, if I am going to pray for reconciliation in broken relationships,
I need to be ready to welcome those with weak faith, as well as humbly face any
ways that my own weak faith contributed to the division. If I am going to pray
for churches to grow through people coming to faith in Jesus Christ, I must be
ready to welcome people who have weak faith, and to face that God will call me
to join his work in their lives in ways that requires my faith to grow much
stronger than it has ever been before.
One
of my lessons in walking through life with children is the reminder that people
welcomed me when I was very young in the faith, just as adults welcome children
into their care. My hope is that, as long as I keep growing up towards maturity
in Christ, I will have a stronger faith today than I did yesterday, and that I
will make people of every level of faith maturity feel welcome.
From
my heart,
Monte
© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
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