The Meaning of Faith (Part 4): The Size of the Seed

Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe! Help my unbelief.” Mark 9:24

At this point in this series, we know that our salvation is not acquired by the way we live. God has restored us by grace, through faith “…and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— not from works, so that no one can boast” [Eph 2:8–9]. Although this concept seems clear-cut and is consistently found in our Bible, it may be difficult for some to grasp, whether consciously or subconsciously. Not just because of the fact that this kind of mercy goes far beyond human understanding, but because for some it begs the question: “How big is my faith supposed to be?” Jesus repeatedly condemned His disciples for their lack of faith while they were walking with Jesus Himself. How could a righteous God require us, 2000 years later, to believe in the same message of the Gospel, revealed through the resurrection of His son, a story of supernatural grace, that finds no relation with the cruelty of this world? The danger with this view is that it easily makes us consider faith as a work we do to find reconciliation with God, contradicting the gracious nature of the Gospel. At this point, what does God expect from us, and how much do we actually contribute to our salvation?

Dealing with Suffering

Some will say that you only know a person well enough if you have seen them go through intense suffering. Moments of pain will, many times, reveal someone’s true beliefs about life’s meaning, or the lack thereof. A man on his deathbed who has never in his life entered a church will suddenly decide to pray to a god unknown to him, for the first time in his life; A non-religious parent might tell their children that they will one day be reunited with their deceased family member. Atheists often question why suffering exists in a world created by a good God, but perhaps the more valid question is, why does suffering cause those without faith to seek it? The simplest explanation is that atheism cannot deal with the problem of suffering.

The Approach of Buddhism

It can be argued that Buddhists offer the most effective non-theistic approach to suffering. Based on the observations of human life, Buddhism affirms the realness of suffering and concludes that it is caused by craving. In short, according to the Buddhist philosophy, “…suffering, in part, is due to the impermanence of life. Even if one is happy at a given time, this happiness is not permanent.”¹ Because nothing in this life can provide a person with consistent and permanent joy, the Buddhist considers it futile to crave anything. Suffering, or Dukkha, “…implies the generally unsatisfactory and imperfect nature of life.”² Buddhist teaching is that a being will be endlessly reborn into a new life, the quality of which depends on their conduct in the previous life (aka karma). This way, this being will be in an endless cycle of “rebirth” (samsara) and death. The solution to this is to reach a state of Nirvana, which is considered a complete cessation of suffering, greed, hatred, and ignorance. This will cause a person to reach “enlightenment.” After this, he steps out of the cycle of rebirth and never experiences death again.

The Buddhist goal is therefore to abstain from craving anything that offers only temporary happiness, so that one does not suffer when what is cherished inevitably fades or is lost. This leaves the individual with one craving: not to crave anything at all. To seek enlightenment, the Buddha himself renounced certain pleasures and relationships. This is why he “…left his family in search of liberation on the day his son, Rahula, was born.”³ Twelve years later, when the Buddha had reached full enlightenment—or awakening, he returned to make his son his disciple.

The Christian Response

The interesting thing about the approach of Buddhism is that it, in many ways, agrees with the teachings of Christianity. It successfully captures the problem of suffering and the unsatisfactory and imperfect nature of this world. The book of Ecclesiastes expresses the same philosophy by saying that:

All that my eyes desired, I did not deny them. I did not refuse myself any pleasure, for I took pleasure in all my struggles. This was my reward for all my struggles. When I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun. Ecclesiastes 2:10–11

It should therefore be no surprise to the Christian that many of our achievements will one day pass away and that anything we desire here on earth can one day be taken from us. The problem, however, with the approach of Buddhism is that, because it is confined within the small space granted by non-theism, it fails to provide a permanent solution to the problem of human suffering. The reason for that is actually found in its own philosophy. For if nothing in this world is permanent, but there is no place beyond this world, any suggested solution can only be temporary. The Buddhist attempts to solve this with Nirvana, where he ultimately abstains from any craving, resulting in the breaking of the cycle of death. Their “eternal life” is to never live again. Buddhism has successfully discovered the problem within this world and is therefore desperately trying to escape it, but because of its limits, it has nowhere to go.

On Whom We Fix Our Eyes

So where can we go? And why did we take this little detour? Let us consider Jesus’ words in Matthew 17. In this passage, Jesus’ disciples were unable to drive out an evil spirit. Jesus responded and said, “you unbelieving and rebellious generation! How long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you?” [Matt 17:17]. When His disciples asked Him why they could not drive out the spirit, Jesus accused them of having little faith and said, “…for I assure you: If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you” [Matt 17:20]. The question is: why is it that although their faith should only amount to the size of a mustard seed, its current state was still insufficient? Jesus continued by saying that even when a person is active in prophesying, exorcism, and the performance of miracles in His Name, yet He can “…announce to them, ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!’” [Matt 7:21]. Some might see this as a sign that Jesus requires His followers to have an immense amount of faith if they ever want to acquire the eternal life He offers, for “…without faith it is impossible to please God…” [Heb 11:6].

However, the more likely interpretation of Jesus’ words is that true faith starts with realizing that the seed is too small to produce anything on its own. When considering the “thorn in his eye” that God would not take from him, Paul learned that “…power is perfected in weakness” [2 Cor 12:9]. For this reason, he decided to “…take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, catastrophes, persecutions, and in pressures, because of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong” [2 Cor 12:10]. What Jesus was saying is that your actions will not yield any results if you attempt to accomplish them by your own strength. A great example is when Jesus invited Peter to join Him on the water. Peter got out of the boat and walked towards Jesus. All went well, “but when he saw the strength of the wind, he was afraid. And beginning to sink he cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’” [Matt 14:28–31] The problem was never the strength of the wind, nor Jesus’ capability to lead him. Peter was also aware of Jesus’ authority over the wind, for otherwise he would not have cried out to Him. What happened here is that when Peter took his eyes off of Jesus, he began to depend on his own capabilities, rather than Jesus’s call. Peter did not walk on the water by the strength of his faith, but by the strength of the object of his faith. And once he looked the other way and faced the winds on his own, he sank.

He Works With What We Offer

Understanding the Gospel is understanding that His power does not depend on what we offer Him, as long as we allow Him to work with the things we offer Him. The story of the feeding of the 4000 is a perfect example of how the Gospel works. In order to feed them, Jesus did not tell His disciples to gather more food. He asked them*, “how many loaves do you have?”* [Matt 15:34]. They came to Him with seven loaves and a few small fish, and “they all ate and were filled. Then they collected the leftover pieces—seven large baskets full” [Matt 15:37]. He was not able to feed them because they gave Him the resources; He fed them because He had compassion on the crowd who had stayed with Him without anything to eat [Matt 15:32]. They gave Him all they had: they left everything to follow Him. This is when you allow Him to be your source, to shepherd you.

If we go back to the story of the evil spirit that Jesus’ disciples could not cast out, we see the faith of the father whose son was being tormented by this spirit. He told Jesus:

But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Then Jesus said to him, “‘If You can’? Everything is possible to the one who believes.” Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe! Help my unbelief.” Mark 9:22-24

This was the man’s response to suffering. He did not offer Jesus his strong and solid faith. In fact, he offered Him his doubt. Again, it was Jesus’ compassion that made the difference, not what was offered to Him. God cares about how we deal with suffering. Buddhism teaches that the material world is insufficient and unable to satisfy us, and in Christianity, this is the whole point of the Gospel. Therefore, Paul proclaims that:

…our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 17-18

Unlike the Buddhist, the Christian has an escape, and it has nothing to do with fleeing from desire. On the contrary:

For we know that if our temporary, earthly dwelling is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal dwelling in the heavens, not made with hands. Indeed, we groan in this body, desiring to put on our dwelling from heaven, since, when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 2 Corinthians 5:1-3

We shift our desire to the One who can satisfy us. The One who made a place for us where there is eternal joy and freedom from suffering. We embrace the fact that “…while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord” [2 Cor 5:6]. This means that we are aware of the fact that not just the things around us are insufficient, but we, by ourselves, are insufficient. However, we give what we have and who we are to the One who is sufficient, and He gives us His Spirit in return as a down payment, a first taste of eternity with Him. This allows us to close our eyes to what the world offers and “…walk by faith, not by sight” [2 Cor 5:7]. Where the Buddhist tries to take control, we give it to the One who created it all.

Having faith the size of a mustard seed is not about having doubtless faith. It means that in our affliction, we learn that His strength is made perfect in our weakness. It means knowing we cannot do it by ourselves. It means that we give Him the small seed we have and trust that He will grow it into a large tree, even if all we can say is “I do believe! Help my unbelief.” All desire eternal joy and freedom from suffering. And “if I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”⁴

Footnotes

1. Waka Takahashi Brown, “Introduction to Buddhism,” Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, December 2002, https://spice.fsi.stanford.edu/docs/introduction_to_buddhism (accessed November 11, 2025).

2. The Buddhist Society, Fundamental Teachings, https://www.thebuddhistsociety.org/page/fundamental-teachings (accessed November 11, 2025).

3. Gil Fronsdal, “The Buddha as a Parent,” Lotus Happiness, June 25, 2017, https://lotus-happiness.com/the-buddha-as-a-parent/ (accessed February 14, 2026).

4. C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (London: Geoffrey Bles, 1952), book 3, chap. 10.