There's a back and forth strain within the conversation of faith. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). Faith is a personal, strong conviction in what you believe about who God is and what God has done through Jesus. Your faith is what you believe.
But it is also more than what you believe. Faith is also what you do with what you believe.
Jesus prepared his disciples to lead those who chose to follow him. Those people would come to believe Jesus to be the way and also live in the way of Jesus--a well-rounded faith. The Lord said that you'd rather experience a deep sea plunge with a stone hung around your neck than deal with God after causing a "little one" to sin.
Jesus continued his leadership lesson with a word on forgiveness. That if someone repents of their sin against you, you must respond with forgiveness. Not once. Not even twice. Seven times a day, if need be.
The disciples' response is hopeful. They didn't wonder how they could make someone else sin. They didn't look to redefine repentance or justify why they wouldn't want to forgive someone who has wronged them. Instead, they replied to Jesus, "Increase our faith!"
In other words, yes, they needed faith in what they believed about Jesus. But they didn't need more belief, more things to believe. Rather, they needed their faith to rise to action. Faith would be how they would do the impossible.
Christians often speak of the difficulty of loving enemies. At the same time, we talk a lot about how hard it is to forgive how people hurt us, even people we love. So, the issue isn't with what Christ has asked us to do. We have a sense of the power of love and forgiveness. Perhaps, like Jesus' first disciples, we need to keep praying, "Increase our faith!"
Stay blessed...john | 
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