I argue that energy does not exist. Neither does gravity or the wind. That’s foolish you may say. Well, prove them then. You can’t see them. You can’t touch them. You can’t smell, taste, or hear them. So, prove to me they exist.
Well, wind, you might say. Can be felt when it blows against you and heard when it passes over or through an object so that proves it exists. You might also say of gravity the fact that we are not floating around in the air or that apples fall to the ground is evidence that gravity exists. And energy is real because all living things have the capacity or potential of work.
Don’t go thinking I’m crazy. Though I may argue it, I don’t actually believe it. The point in the argument is to show that these three common, basic events of reality are only evidenced by their interaction with something else. Their substance is found within our expectations of them. I expect to hear a ball hit the ground after being dropped. I expect to smell the food truck up the road on a windy day. And I expect to see objects in motion stay in motion unless acted upon by outside force.
The same critics that would quickly call out my tomfoolery towards energy, gravity and wind will also call my faith in an unseen, unheard, intangible God buffoonerey. The truth of the matter is that belief in the former and latter all take faith.
It doesn’t take faith to believe in cars. I can buy or steal them. I can drive and wreck them. I can walk by them and get hit by them. It doesn’t take faith to believe in the sun. I can feel it so extremely that it blisters my skin. See it so clearly that I go blind from looking at it. I can even use it to burn ants and cook eggs on the cement.
Tangible things don’t take faith to believe in. It takes faith to believe in things that we cannot physically experience unless interacted with something else. And contrary to popular opinion, faith is not blind. A better phrase to use in place of blind faith is “in theory”.
The writer of Hebrews tells us, “Faith is substance of things hoped for. It is the evidence of things we cannot see.” Faith is a substance- a physical matter of which a thing has a tangible presence. Faith is evidence- the proof of something. So, faith, by definition, cannot and is never blind or without reason.
In the Christian world, the words faith and belief are often interchanged, wrongly I may add. Although they are similar and work hand in hand, they are not the same.
Belief- confidence (trust) in something because that something is reliable, true, able and strong.
Faith- proof of said belief.
We can believe without faith, but we can’t have faith without belief. I would argue though that if we believe something with there being no proof of it that it falls into the “in theory” category.
In our Christian walk, belief is not enough. But wait! You may interject, “The bible says if you believe in your heart and confess Jesus as savior then you will be saved. What do you mean belief is not enough?”
To that I respond, you missed it. It’s not enough to just believe you must also confess, Confessing is an act of faith. It starts as a belief, but it is not complete or acceptable until we prove it with an act of faith-confession. James says, “You say you have faith because you believe in God, good for you! Even the demons believe this, and tremble in fear!”
Demons believe in God, yet their words and actions are contrary to Him. Their faith is in Satan for it is his will they act out. James goes on to say. “Faith without works is dead.” Everything we say and do is evidence of our beliefs whether known or unknown. If you want to know what you truly believe just start paying attention to all that you say and do.
Without faith it is impossible to please God. It doesn’t say without belief; it says without faith. We are saved by grace through faith. We are not saved by grace through belief. Again, demons believe yet not one of them will be saved. What are you saying then that we are saved by our works? Not at all! As Paul said, salvation is not a reward for what we have done so no one can boast. It is a gift from God!
However, our belief in Jesus changes us from the inside out. And when our character is changed, our words and actions change as well proving our faith to be genuine, Jesus said if you love Me, you will keep my commandments. Rather, if we love Him, we will be obedient to Him and Him alone. Obedience cannot be proved or evidenced without works. I can say I will obey Him all I want but if my words and actions show disobedience then there is no real change happening. Which is why it is said, without faith it is impossible to please God.
This is one of the reasons why Christianity gets a bad rep. There is a disconnect within the church between its beliefs and its faith. The church can be quick to tell the world the truth and state our beliefs however, much of the church does not evidence the validity of these by the way we live. We become hypocrites when our beliefs aren’t acted upon by our faith. And why would people want to run to Jesus when His people are not living out His truths?
I pray that we, the church, will put our proverbial money where our mouth is and begin to live life full of faith. That we will wipe the ugly of His bride by living out our beliefs. That we would take the truth of Jesus and put it on display for the world to see by our faith!
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