Faith is not about making assumptions

God whispered to me, “Pray for her and I will heal her.” I believed Him and prayed, thinking she would overcome her illness. She deteriorated. I wondered about God’s words, yet continued to pray for her, not for healing as much as for comfort. She died last week. My first thought was, “He did it; now she is healed.”

Chambers says our faith must be tested. One of those tests concerns what we actually believe. How do I interpret God’s promises? For my friend, first I thought He would make her physically well in this life. Now I realize that He planned perfect healing for her in His presence. She without illness for eternity, never to struggle and suffer again.

Jesus’ friend Lazarus was sick and died. Jesus wept, but not because Lazarus was dead; He knew that would not last . . .

Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” (John 11:38–40)

Martha and her sister, Mary, experienced a test of their faith. In this case, Jesus told them, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said she believed he would “rise again in the resurrection on the last day” (verse 23-24), but that was not what Jesus meant by His promise. He brought Lazarus back to life on that very day.

Many of God’s promises could mean at least a couple of things. Another example is this one:

“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9–11)

If I am praying for an unsaved person, I could call on God to fulfill this in that person’s life, but does He mean that ‘every tongue confess’ in their life on this planet? I know that all will be resurrected, some to eternal life and others to eternal damnation. All will recognize the Lordship of Jesus Christ, but not all of them will do it willingly. I can pray that a person will bow the knee to Jesus and confess He is Lord because that is a great prayer, but I cannot claim that He will do it this week or even in their lifetime.

One thing I most like about being a Christian is that God continually surprises me. I have no idea what He is going to do next, and I’ve never been able to second-guess Him. His ways are loftier than mine; His thinking is far greater and wiser, above all that I can ask or imagine.

For that reason, I need to be wary of assumptions. Even though I have faith, my faith is in Him and in His choices and decisions, not in events or actions that I want or predict. Tested faith eventually realizes that whatever happens next is up to the Lord.

Faith is not about faith

Isaiah 42:10–43:28, Luke 16:1–17:10, Job 9:25–35

A woman told me that she would go to heaven because she had faith. As we talked, it became clear that her faith was in her faith, and not in God. It might seem like splitting hairs because the Bible says we are saved by faith, but faith is only as good as its object. If I worship a stone idol and trust it to save me, no matter how much faith I generate, that hunk of stone cannot forgive and redeem. I am not saved by faith in faith; I am saved by faith in Christ as revealed in His Word. The Bible also says that faith is a gift from God, so salvation is of God. It is He who saves.

Today’s passage from Isaiah speaks of the Lord’s saving power and gives reasons why faith in Him is well-placed, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior . . . Fear not, for I am with you . . . You are my witnesses, and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. I, I am the Lord, and besides me there is no Savior” (Isaiah 43:1–11) and “I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” (Isaiah 43:25)

Job recognized God’s power to save as he struggled with his situation and tried to reason with God that maybe his sorrow was due to guilt . . . “If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and be of good cheer,’ I become afraid of all my suffering, for I know you will not hold me innocent. I shall be condemned; why then do I labor in vain? If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye, yet you will plunge me into a pit, and my own clothes will abhor me.”

Then he said of God, “For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together. There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both. Let him take his rod away from me, and let not dread of him terrify me. Then I would speak without fear of him, for I am not so in myself.” (Job 9:27–35)

Job’s faith was challenged by his trial. He thought his faith would be stronger if the trial ended, but realized how badly he needed an arbiter or mediator. In a way, faith is a mediator, yet it is only a go-between. Faith is not a Savior; it needs to have an object.

Jesus told of a man who died and pleaded with Abraham (the “father of faith”) about warning his five brothers “lest they also come into this place of torment.” But Abraham said, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.” The man said, “No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” However, Abraham replied, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.” (Luke 16:28–31)

When the apostles heard this, they said to Jesus, “Increase our faith!”

Jesus replied, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” (Luke 17:5–6)

Again, it is not the size of faith that matters, but the One in whom that faith is placed. God speaks; we believe His Word because of who says it. Faith can be a tiny thing, but when that tiny thing is placed in Almighty God, then faith joins me to all the grace and power I need. 

Faith vs. Sight

Some things look better in the dark. The pictures in the brochures plus those who spend an evening in South Beach Miami rave about the colors and say it is so glamorous. Art deco interests me, so we drove over yesterday afternoon. Again, some things look better in the dark or at least not by sunlight. We were disappointed.

Light does not always make something look bad. If a person is attractive, sunlight or candlelight will not change that. If a building is constructed and kept in good shape, it will look as good or even better in full daylight as it appears in the dark or with subdued lighting.

The idea of walking by faith rather than sight has some parallels. That is, the object of faith is always the issue, not my ability to see or not. Whether I can see Jesus, or can see Jesus at work is not as important as who He is.

When I was a child, my father made me a Christmas gift. It was a total surprise. I’ve no idea when he worked on it, but even then, I realized this project had taken much time and was a gift of love. Did it matter that I could not see what he was doing? Of course not. The project did not depend on me seeing it happen, but on the loving man who made it happen.

Before Jesus was crucified, He told the disciples that He would rise again. After it happened and some of the disciples reported it to others, Thomas refused to believe it. He said that he had to see it for himself. His faith was in his own vision rather than in the One who made the promise to rise from the dead.

Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:26–29)

The faith that honors Jesus Christ believes what He says, even when I cannot see any evidence that what He says is working out. This is vital. He tells me that I have new life in Him. When I mess up, if I look at my actions as evidence for His promise, I will despair. Of course new life produces a new way to live, but the reason that I believe in Jesus has to be based on His nature, character, words, and promises, not on my successes or failures. 

My new life happens because of Jesus, not because of what I do.

God continually asks me to walk by faith, not by sight. This is regarding my personal life in Christ, but it also affects my concept of who God is. For instance, the chaos that is visible in the world stands in contrast to the Word of God that tells me He is sovereign, in control, and will eventually judge the world and bring in righteousness and truth. If I walk by sight and look to events as evidence of God’s omnipotence, then faith has to take a back seat. However, when the light of faith shines on the chaos, God shows me what it truly is ­--- a decaying system that can only look good to those in the dark. 

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Lord, more and more I realize how faith is tested by what is visible. When I was a new Christian, it seemed easy to see You or sense You at work. Now You are showing me that faith must not depend on what is visible and might even totally contrast what I see. You want me to believe in what You say, not in what I see. As that becomes an increasing challenge, Your Word and Your promises become even more precious. I’m glad that You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. I can rely on You because of who You are, and whether I’m surrounded by light, or whether all seems dark, You will always look good because You are good.

To Live is Christ — because He is faithful

When Jesus was up on the mountain meeting with Moses and Elijah, His disciples were trying to cast a demon out of a boy. They failed, apparently because this was a “faithless generation” who needed signs and wonders to convince them.

When Jesus entered the crowd and asked what was going on, the boy’s father told him of his son’s hapless condition. Jesus asked him to bring the boy to Him.

So the followers brought him to Jesus. As soon as the evil spirit saw Jesus, it made the boy lose control of himself, and he fell down and rolled on the ground, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has this been happening?” The father answered, “Since he was very young. The spirit often throws him into a fire or into water to kill him. If you can do anything for him, please have pity on us and help us.”

I can remember times that my prayers to Jesus had the words “if you can” in them. As I learned about God and His great power, I blush to think that I would doubt Him with such words.

Jesus said to the father, “You said, ‘If you can!’ All things are possible for the one who believes.” Immediately the father cried out, “I do believe! Help me to believe more!” When Jesus saw that a crowd was quickly gathering, he ordered the evil spirit, saying, “You spirit that makes people unable to hear or speak, I command you to come out of this boy and never enter him again!” The evil spirit screamed and caused the boy to fall on the ground again. Then the spirit came out. The boy looked as if he were dead, and many people said, “He is dead!” But Jesus took hold of the boy’s hand and helped him to stand up.(Mark 9:20–27, NCV)

The man said ‘if’ and Jesus challenged that. He chided him for his lack of faith, and the man immediately admitted that his faith was not perfect. I’ve had to do that too. However, this miracle or any miracle isn’t about the man’s faith, or mine.

At first read (and in some Bible versions) it looks like Jesus meant that the impossible stays that way for people who don’t have enough faith. However, the boy’s father admitted his faith was not perfect. This didn’t matter because Jesus had compassion on him and his son; He helped them anyway. If miracles depend on having enough faith, then this boy would not have been set free from the demon’s attacks.

Faith is important because Jesus does ask us to believe in Him, yet some make it the controlling factor. They say, “If you had enough faith, this would be fixed/healed” putting the onus is on the victim, or the victim’s family, or on other humans, sinners all.

My question then is this: How much faith is enough? And how do you measure it anyway? That is like trying to measure sad or happy. We know there is a “really happy” and a “really sad” but where is the line that divides one from the other?

Faith is not about my ability to believe as much as it is about the object of my faith. For instance, I can trust that my car will get me to the grocery store, but that depends on the condition of my car. Believing it will travel a few blocks does not make it happen, particularly if the gas tank is empty.

So it is with faith in Christ. It isn’t about the size, shape, height or depth of my faith; it is about the worth of the One that I trust. Can He do it? Will He come through? Is He reliable? Does He care? Is He powerful enough? Does He know how?

The answer is best given by the angels as seen by the Apostle John in his vision of heaven . . . 

Then I looked, and I heard the voices of many angels around the throne, and the four living creatures, and the elders. There were thousands and thousands of angels, saying in a loud voice: “The Lamb who was killed is worthy to receive power, wealth, wisdom, and strength, honor, glory, and praise!” (Revelation 5:11–12, NCV)

Because Jesus is totally faithful, He is therefore worthy of every ounce of faith I can muster!

Faith is good, but faith in what?

While living in a smaller city, I participated in a house-to-house survey. We were asking people if they should die that day and stood before God and He asked them, “Why should I let you into my heaven?” what would they say?

Most people claimed that they lived good lives and thought that would be sufficient. While this falls short of the biblical answer, I was not surprised to hear it. Because sin is essentially turning from God and doing our own thing, trying to earn heaven by our goodness is a predictable response.

However, one person said something that I’d not heard before. She said she would go to heaven “because of my faith.” We asked further. She explained that she believed she would be there, and her belief was her grounds for eternal life. She did not mention Jesus Christ or His death on the cross. When asked what would happen if she stopped believing, she said she would not be able to go to heaven. In other words, her faith was the virtue that she depended on for eternal life. She wasn’t interested in what Jesus had done for her.

“My faith will save me” sounded good and took me a few days to sort out what she had told us. The Bible says faith by itself isn’t enough; we must also demonstrate our faith by what we do. Yet that wasn’t the explanation that made sense of her claim. Finally, after study and prayer, I began to realize that faith by itself cannot exist. Faith must have an object, something that is believed in and relied upon. In this woman’s case, her faith was in her faith.

I thought of her this morning when I read this verse: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23).

God wants people to believe, but the sentence cannot end there. The blank to fill in is “to believe in _________” What does He want me to pin my hopes on? Obviously, in this verse hope is in a promise that God has made and in the fact that He is faithful to keep His promises.

Faith always has an object, a something that is grounds for its existence. Is it faith in a religious organization? In spiritual leaders? In a denomination or a creed? A more important question is asking if those things give anyone an entrance to eternal life.

Another object of faith could be the Scripture. Are we saved by faith in the Bible? I read another passage this morning where Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40).

It struck me that even though we find out about Jesus through reading Scripture and we know about eternal life and need the Word of life to inform and sustain faith, it is Jesus that gives life and our faith must be in Him, not just in the Bible, or His teachings, or the creeds, or even in His promises.

Apart from Jesus, all these things are just words and dogma. He is the grounds for and the object of Christian faith. Without Him, there would be no heaven, no eternal life, nothing for me to hope or believe in, no matter how much faith I could muster.