I’m thinking about the tricky times we’re living in, a good occasion to talk about faith. If you’re like me, your eyes may glaze over when the subject of faith comes up. It’s such a given, such a talked-about topic that it almost seems nothing new can be said. A whole chapter of Hebrews is devoted to the heroes of faith.
In fact, this part of the Bible lays down the basic challenge: “Without faith, it’s impossible to please God” (Heb 11:6).
There’s this also: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the assurance of things unseen” (Heb 11:1).
This declaration rather explains the hardest thing about faith—that we can’t get our hands around it. Faith isn’t a thing, it’s an attitude.
A position of the heart.
As the writer says, the substance itself is faith—an ungrabbable confidence in God that is more assurance than hope, more substantial than any trace of negativity poised to befuddle our trust.
And because the Bible says so, we know that faith is the attitude God wants us to have. Is it hard? In some circumstances, it is very hard, but even in the face to those challenges, faith says, “Hold on. The Spirit of the living God has been given to you. There’s no lack of substance in that quarter! When yours runs out, rely on the Spirit. The Spirit never fails.”
Even before the world started shopping for toilet paper in our current roil of unsettling news reports, it occurred to me that in a time of worry, uncertainty, doubt, and fear, it’s perfectly within our means to plant ourselves in the worst possibility we can think of
. . . then in the Spirit, join those twelve terrified disciples in that swamped boat on the storm-riven Sea of Galilee, and hear the voice that says, “Peace” to that tempest. It may take a few tries, but the effort is worth it.
Or, in the Spirit, seat yourself at the foot of the cross—or better yet, throw your arms around it, grateful for the blood of the only perfect sacrifice ever made. Fear won’t stay around.
Rely on our own courage, our own ingenuity, our own stamina? Why should we? The Bible says, Paul speaking: “Don’t you know you are the temple of the Holy Spirit, whom you have from God?” (I Cor 6: 19).
Maybe you do know it but just need a reminder. That is certainly the case with me. Here are some other things the Spirit does for us: The Spirit brings “all things to our remembrance,” the Spirit teaches us (John 14: 26), the Spirit straightens out our prayers (Rom 8:26). John is so confident in the power of the Spirit that he writes, “ . . . whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything” (I John 3: 20).
John also says this: “I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you [fears and anxieties, for example]. But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him” (I John 2: 26-27). Learning God, living and abiding in him is faith building.
I John 2: 26-27 is an easy passage for me to remember; February 27 is the birth date of my younger son. I love it that God gives us little gifts like that, little prompts that help us find a verse. Verses are good. They’re faith builders.
And don’t misunderstand my reference to a quote about not needing a teacher. I love teaching. The years I spent teaching were one of the all-time pleasures of my life, so I’m not emphasizing that passage from I John at the expense of teachers. John isn’t either. The point is that God is in you and for you. We have direct contact. That is a liberating thought—that the Holy, Almighty God is interested in talking to us as individuals, perfectly fine with calming our Sea-of-Galilee storms, and delighted to be teaching us every day as we walk with his dearly beloved Son, Jesus Christ.
The better we know him, the stronger our faith.
This week’s column is a bit more personal than writers of newspaper columns traditionally indulge in. They also don’t end sentences with prepositions. But this is my point, warts and all: We serve a personal God. No sparrow falls without his knowledge, and Jesus said, “You are more valuable than many sparrows” (Matt 10: 31).
This is a personal column about a personal God. I hope you know him. I hope you’ve stepped out of your boat.
From The Edgefield Advertiser, the oldest newspaper in South Carolina, March 17, 2020, and with thanks to the following, in order as their great images appear above: Tobias Tullius, Hush Naidoo, Michael Shannon, Caterina Berger, Ben White, and Fred A. at unsplash.com
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