Blind Faith

Happy Thursday!

Did you know that God asks for blind faith?

In fact, to say “blind faith” is redundant. All faith is blind. Hebrews 11:1 confirms that “faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see” (emphasis mine). Yes, faith gets easier with time as we continue to put trust in something in which we always get a positive return (i.e., God), but still, each time we choose to have faith again, it is acknowledging that something will indeed happen that has not yet happened. We have no other proof except God’s word and the legacy of His faithfulness. We close our eyes and take a step. Faith is blind.

But why does this idea of “blind faith” terrify us so much? Our knee-jerk reaction would leave us insisting that we must always be well-informed and fully aware of consequences. So often we can even pluck Scriptures (out of context) to justify this rationale, as in, God wants us to “count the cost” or reasoning that wisdom is a substitute for perfect obedience to God.

When dealing with people, I absolutely understand that blind faith is scary. And to be perfectly honest, I’m not convinced that God is asking us to put blind, unadulterated trust in a human or a relationship. All of us have been burned by a relationship – or maybe just an outcome within a certain relationship – that may cause us to lose child-like faith. While that may well be a blog for a different day, let me suggest that we might let earthly relationships affect the level of our trust in God.

You see, when God asks us to invest a sacrificially generous sum into our church or a particular ministry, it’s easy to wonder about the bills for the rest of the month… but yet we have faith.

When God prompts us to pray for physical healing over a loved one, there is no earthly reason that simply believing in our hearts and speaking words to the ceiling is enough… but yet we have faith.

When God asks to take something quite dear from us, it would seem there is no guarantee that we have a great reward on the other end of painful obedience… but yet we have faith.

Now, some critics and Christians alike argue that faith is antagonist to intellect. But this is not true. God calls the learned and asks them to employ their smarts for the Kingdom. God calls the foolish (like me) and through them shames the so-called wise. Either way, let us be careful not to worship intellect and reason above Jesus Christ. It is important to remember, too, that the paradoxical principles in God’s Kingdom trump the principles of this world.

At any rate, this post is not an apologetics argument on faith vs. intellect. My prayer is that, wherever you find yourself today, you would take heart. Maybe you have wrestled for a long while over something God spoke to you. “Is what He’s asking me to do profitable for my family? Will I have enough money? Will I be stable? What if I forfeit a meaningful relationship in the process?” If we could see exactly what the future held, we would have no need for faith. But, friends, we have something better than seeing the future: we are children of the One who determines the future.

So we put our faith in Him.

And God is worthy of our faith. He has never failed – not once! He is the embodiment of love, and He is always good. If you find that you need to know all the answers before you can be obedient to God, perhaps you have forgotten the nature of our Father. When He asks for our faith in a certain area, it’s because He is in the process of working all things for our good – nay, our best.

Be blessed.. and stay warm this weekend. It’s pretty cold here in Pennsylvania!
My heart,
Josh