"Give me fact over faith," I once heard someone say.
Sounds good, doesn't it? The problem is we all live by faith. Everyone one of us. At least to some degree.
When we push the button on the remote to turn on a basketball game, the news, HGTV or a movie, we are exercising faith. We push that button with a sense of trust and expectation.
When we get into our automobiles, we are trust that it will take us where we need to go.
At work, we may wear a hardhat, having faith that it will protect us from something that may fall from above us. Perhaps we put on a pair of latex gloves, trusting they will protect us from the illnesses of others.
In the earliest days of school, long before we are intelligent enough to verify it, we trust that our teachers are telling us the truth when they assert that 2 plus 2 is actually 4.
On and on I could go. My point simply is that we all trust other people and other things. We all exercise faith to some extent. My question is why deny ourselves the joy of knowing the One who created us, loves us and wants to have an intimate relationship with us by refusing to trust Him?
It is by faith, the Bible tells us, that we experience a right relationship with the Creator. Romans 5:1 explains that it is by faith (trusting) in who Jesus is and what Jesus has done that we experience peace (a right relationship) with God.
It is also important to realize that trust in Jesus is not mere “blind faith.” It is, in fact, very reasonable to trust Him.
The primary reason we trust the TV will come to life when we punch the button on the TV remote is because we have seen it happen countless times in past experience. We have faith that our car will get us to work, Wal-Mart or Wendy’s because it took us where we wanted to go the last time we turned the key. “Others have been protected by hardhats and latex gloves, they should be able to protect me,” we reason.
Likewise, there is a good foundation of reason to trust Jesus. In the 40 days following His resurrection, Jesus was seen by hundreds of people. In one instance, He ate food, demonstrating the physical reality of His resurrected body. Jesus did something that no one before or since has done. He defeated the once undefeatable enemy: death. And having done so, He has the power and authority to offer life.
If you are living a life of frustration, emptiness and pointlessness, I urge you to exercise faith. Not in yourself. Not in a self-help seminar, book or program. I urge you to place your faith in Jesus and experience, as others have, a fullness of life that comes from a relationship with the One who created us. If you’re not sure how or have questions about what that means, email me at dennis@xpointe.net or call me at 623-694-4001.
Walking by Faith,
DJC
