The Conclusion

What I’m about to say probably in some ways contradicts what I’ve said before, but that is irrelevant. You would not call a man foolish for putting gasoline in his car once he found out water wouldn’t work.

I think we as Christians have reversed the process of faith and belief. The world lives on a system of cause and effect. This makes sense because this makes sense or this happens next because this just happened. However, I don’t think faith works the same way. We’ve been taught by the world that it must work that way because that way is the only way it could makes sense, but faith doesn’t need to make sense because faith is based on God and from God, and God does not have to operate in terms that we can comprehend. Anyone who has an objection to faith working this way (perhaps they arrived at faith through logic like C.S. Lewis) has in fact arrived at the conclusion that not all things do, can, and ever will make sense.

“Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.”

Faith comes by hearing. To believe in God is to say that it does not need make sense; what we call sense is based on our limited knowledge of what we’ve seen and developed. To believe in God requires some acceptance that we don’t understand everything, and some trust that God knows more and does things for our best with that knowledge. Perhaps at this point an  allegory will help.

If and when you teach a child the multiplication table, you do not wait until he understands it to decide it’s still true. You already know it to be true, and that is why you are teaching it to him. Furthermore, you would probably find it quite peculiar if the child said “I’m not going to believe in the multiplication table until I’m old enough, have more proof, and have more experience with it.” God tells us we must have “faith like a child.” What I think this means is we must believe in God and believe God somewhat blindly, then see that the results are all that has been promised. In the words of a small elf, “seeing isn’t believing, believing is seeing.” In other words, it takes no faith to believe in something once you’ve seen it. We are told to have faith until we see it.

Paul tells us we are saved by grace through faith. To me, this means that if you have no faith, you aren’t saved. That is the difference between those with salvation and those without. Grace has been offered to all of us because Christ’s death was for the world; faith is the other piece of the puzzle, and the part that is dependent upon you. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. If you do not have faith, perhaps it is because you are not listening and hearing God’s Word. As an extra note, God is the Word, and God is limitless. If you’re looking for Him, you will find Him around every corner, not just in church and in your Bible. Pray that your ears may be opened, eyes may be opened, and faith may increase. Through faith mountains will be moved, miracles will be seen, destinies will be changed, and souls will be saved.