Facts and Faith
Romans 10: 17
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
The facts don’t count. You’ve heard me say this before. It’s what you believe about the facts that matters. I watched a movie recently in which the school system had replaced the textbooks with new books which had “corrected” history as you and I know it. In reality, there are people today who do not believe humans have travelled to the moon or who do not believe the Egyptian pyramids are real. Watching the movie and observing characters’ absolute belief in their position made me realize the facts don’t matter. It is what you believe that matters. How does one get a non-believer to believe? The reality is that exposure to facts does not transform unbelief in the heart of someone determined not to believe. You can show scientific data, pictures, live accounts, personal experiences and none of it matters if a person is disinclined to believe. The question, therefore, becomes, what do we believe. What do we choose to believe? Where is your authority for what you believe?
I am a believer. I choose to believe. I am neither cynical nor skeptical. Why? Faith is the business of believing. In truth, it is the business of believing when there may not be evidence. Sometimes the facts are even against you. Perhaps you feel pain in a joint, but you know The Word says you are healed. The fact is, you feel pain, but what is the truth? You must choose what to believe. Is the Bible your authority? Do you believe Jesus meant what he said? The choice is not whether you feel pain or whether you are healed. The choice is, when in the midst of pain or discomfort, do you believe you are healed, or do you believe you are not? Faith is found in the midst of pain, not in its absence.
I know many, many Christians who are cynics rather than believers. When faced with new information, their first reaction is doubt. Perhaps it is in their DNA to be skeptical. They begin from a point of cynicism and then must coax themselves out of doubt and skepticism. It is a much more challenging way to live, but they are rarely duped. As an example, one day a fellow came into our law office asking for $20 to get a taxi to get home. He promised he would pay pack the twenty. My partner was steadfast in his refusal although I was inclined to give it to the fellow. “He’ll never pay it back,” my partner said. Still, I leaned towards giving it to him and did. Of course, we never saw that guy again. My law partner was less inclined to fall for a scheme or false promise. I, on the other hand, have never regretted giving that fellow the money.
It is easier for me to trust. It is easier for me to hope for a good outcome than people like my former law partner. Some people just are not faith based. I think that makes life more of a challenge because doubt, cynicism and skepticism undermine everything that faith tries to give us.
As I ruminate, I ask myself, if we are not prone to belief, then how does that affect our Christianity which is a faith based belief system. How do we know God is real? Isn’t it only because we believe? Who is Christ? Is there really a Christ? You see, the hinge pin of our religion, for lack of a better term, is belief. Therefore, we must endeavor to broaden our capacity to believe.
Now we come to the heart of the matter. If one wishes to live in hope, how does one alter their outlook? The only answer I know is to have more of oneself intertwined with Jesus. That comes from spending more time with him and this process begins, as it seems it always must, with time in the Word. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.
Perhaps some of us are prone to be people of hope and faith while others are us are designed to be wary. I believe, though, if I am to be more engaged with the living person of Jesus Christ, then I am going to have to live further and further out of my comfort zone. I believe we all must jump out of the boat and walk to where he is as Peter did (Matthew 14: 29). Remember, though, what happened to Peter. He got out of the boat and walked on the water towards Jesus but once he took notice of the facts, i.e. the wind and the waves, he began to sink. Jesus said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
You recognize that the facts didn’t matter. The same wind was blowing when Peter got out of the boat and yet he walked on the water. What changed? Peter’s focus changed. When his hope was set on walking to Jesus, the truth aligned and he walked on the water. When his focus shifted to doubt, he manifested his fear and sank. Both outcomes were his for the choosing.
This reality is ours as well. Now you understand why I choose to believe and hope even if I risk being duped or made a fool of. I would rather hope and believe, chasing good outcomes, than doubt and mistrust and perhaps miss out on a chance at something better.
Jesus is the truth. He is the light and the life. The more we steadfastly fix our eyes upon him and follow him, the greater our chances of living the abundant life he secured for us. I believe this requires us to spend time reading the Bible. Secondly, we must choose to live in hope rather than skepticism. We must be open to thinking new thoughts and open to new ideas. If we wish to transform ourselves, then we necessarily will have to think differently tomorrow than how we thought yesterday, and that need not be scary when we walk hand in hand with Jesus. Better to hope and try and miss than to have never tried, I say.
Tell me what methods you think we can employ to help ourselves believe bigger.
