Are you a Triple-A member? You’re probably thinking of North America’s largest travel organization, which has over 60 million members and provides many benefits. But I’m referring to another Triple-A membership that’s far better in the grand scheme of things. Jesus talks about it in Mark 11:22-25 when he tells his disciples,
Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, “Be taken up and thrown into the sea,” and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
Here Jesus teaches us a three-fold lesson on faith. We could call it the “Triple A of Trust.”
1. Anchored in God
“Have faith in God.” Everyone has faith. But the defining issue for life and eternity is where that faith is placed.
Just prior to his conversation with his disciples, Jesus had cleansed the temple in Jerusalem, declaring, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations? But you have made it a den of robbers” (Mark 11:17; cf. Isa. 56:7). The people’s focus was no longer on God but on the beautiful buildings and “big business.”
In his book, Coming Home: Timeless Wisdom for Families, James Dobson writes,
The Taj Mahal is one of the most beautiful and costly tombs ever built, but there is something fascinating about its beginnings. In 1629, when the favorite wife of Indian ruler Shah Jahan died, he ordered that a magnificent tomb be built as a memorial for her. The shah placed his wife’s casket in the middle of a parcel of land, and construction of the temple literally began around it. But several years into the venture, the Shah’s grief gave way to a passion for the project. One day while he was surveying the sight, he reportedly stumbled over a wooden box, and he had some workers throw it out. It was months before he realized that his wife’s casket had been destroyed. The original purpose for the memorial became lost in the details of construction. (p. 122)
That’s what had happened with the temple in Jerusalem. The same thing happens in many churches today. So Jesus tells his disciples, “Trust in God.” Our faith must be anchored in him.
2. Able to move mountains
Faith in God, expressed through prayer, has exponential power to accomplish God’s purposes. Jesus used the symbol of a mountain to convey this point. From the Mount of Olives, where this conversation was taking place, the disciples would have been able to see on the south horizon a peak shaped like a volcano. The peak is actually the Herodium, one of many citadels built by Herod the Great.
Herodium seen from Artas village (next to Bethlehem)
As John Beck notes in Bible Study Magazine,
The Herodium is the only mountain in view that had a history of being moved — a fact that Jesus alludes to in his lesson. Herod directed his builders to remove part of the mountain adjacent to the Herodium in order to provide material to create an artificial slope…. With its high elevation, unique shape, distinctive architecture, and history of being moved, the Herodium is the most likely referent of “this mountain” ….
When Herod built it, he used slave labor to transfer the earth from an adjacent hill to form the foundation and support structure for the fortress. Herod literally moved a mountain to build his fortress!
Yet as impressive as this construction was, Jesus said it’s nothing compared to what God can do through those who place their faith in him. Herod’s architectural ambitions had changed the landscape of Judea, but those who trust in God can change the landscape of human history.
3. Always ready to forgive.
What does forgiveness have to do with faith? Forgiveness toward others is the outworking of one’s faith in God.
Joseph exemplified this beautifully. After their father Jacob died, Joseph’s brothers were afraid that Joseph would inflict vengeance on them for selling him as a slave to Egypt years earlier. So they told Joseph that before Jacob died, he had expressed his wish that Joseph forgive his brothers. But their pleading was unnecessary, for Joseph had already forgiven them.
Joseph was able to do so because of his faith in God. He told his brothers, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Gen. 50:20). Faith can see the hand of God working even in the most unjust circumstances. Such a perspective wields a lot of power — enough to move a mountain.
Are you a “Triple A member”? Is your faith anchored in God ... able to move mountains ... always ready to forgive? That’s the kind of faith that God uses to accomplish his purposes and alter the landscape of history.