Skip to main content

Faith

           Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. (Hebrews 11:1-2)

 

          Let’s get my pet peeve with these verses out of the way. Some people say that these verses define faith. They say faith is confidence and assurance. Well, what are confidence and assurance? Some would say, “Trust.” OK, what is trust? “Well, faith.” Using another word that means approximately the same doesn’t really define the term. I love these verses, but they don’t really define faith. Fortunately, the rest of the chapter illustrates it so we see what it looks like even if we don’t understand what it is.

          And as I’ve spent yet another half day bouncing from one task to the next without getting much done, I asked God to talk to me about faith while I made a Strawberry-Zucchini loaf, because I have to use those up! As I dumped this and that into a bowl and used beaters to mix them together, God asked me why I was following the recipe.

          Why do we follow recipes or instructions? Why do we watch tutorial videos? Why did Americans spend 9.9 billion dollars on self-improvement books, videos, programs, aps, etc. in 2019? I suspect it’s because we have faith – or at least hope – that if we do what the recipe tells us to do that the combination will result in something that ends up in a useful form, that tastes good, and nourishes us in some way. I followed the recipe (well, as much as I ever do) because I want a loaf of strawberry-zucchini bread to share with family and I believe…trust… hope that what the recipe says to do will produce that.

          I’ve said before that when it comes to trusting God, it’s not some constant vague feeling. We trust God for things, in situations, through circumstances, or to speak or act. In a sense, we trust God (or perhaps should trust God) the way we trust recipes. Whatever the steps are that we are supposed to do we do (and prayer is the big one here) we do them with the belief that there will be a certain outcome or kind of outcome. Whether we trust that He will, or won’t, we’re still trusting. But, if we go back and forth… He will… He won’t…He might…He might not – that is not trusting.

          And if we think of it that way, it might be said that an atheist, who consistently says that God doesn’t exist and therefore won’t, has more faith than we do as we bounce back and forth between “He will” and “He won’t.” Ouch.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more