To many, faith is an obscured
word. Numerous are those who eagerly pray that their faith will be increased.
Others scratch their head, for this word is a complete mystery to them.
What is faith? Is it a concept that we can even begin
to understand?
The best way to approach this question is by reading
Hebrews 11, the chapter renowned for its message about faith.
"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and
certain of what we do not see." (Heb 11:1 NIV)
Simply said, faith means taking God at His Word,
believing firmly that what He says is true, and that anything that is
contradictory to what He says is false. (See
The One-Lane
Bridge for more information)
Interestingly enough, the 11th chapter of Hebrews
continues on by saying: "This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith
we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is
seen was not made out of what was visible." (Heb 11:2-3 NIV)
The best way to illustrate this is by exploring those
Jesus referred to as having "such great faith". Let's take, for example, the
event that took place in Matthew 8: 5-13:
"When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to
him, asking for help. 'Lord,' he said, 'my servant lies at home paralyzed and in
terrible suffering.'" (Matt 8:5-6 NIV)
It was not considered an honour for a Jew to be
approached by a Roman Centurion. On the contrary! Romans were despised! They
were the invaders who dominated and oppressed Israel! But this centurion was
different from the others. He wasn't pleading for his wife, or even for his
children. He was pleading for his servant, a slave probably, one who was
suffering. Most Romans would have let such servants die on the spot. After all,
slaves were a dime a dozen in that century and were considered expendable. But
not this centurion:
"Jesus said to him, 'I will go and heal him.'" (Matt
8:7 NIV)
Immediately moved, Jesus is eager to act upon that
request, even though the one who spoke to Him was considered an enemy by his
fellow countrymen.
"The centurion replied, 'Lord, I do not deserve to
have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be
healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell
this one, "Go," and he goes; and that one, "Come," and he comes. I say to my
servant, "Do this," and he does it.'" (Matt 8:8-9 NIV)
The centurion seems to have a reasonable request, but
Jesus looks beyond what was said. Isn't it true that many will go to a crusade
to be healed, but they will not expect a healing anywhere else? If we have
enough faith to take Jesus at His Word, He will meet us wherever we are!
"When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to
those following him, 'I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel
with such great faith.'" (Matt 8:10-11 NIV)
The centurion knew he could take Jesus at His word,
and when He heard Jesus say: "Go! It will be done just as you believed it would."
(Matt 8:13 NIV), he left, without turning back, knowing fully that his
"servant
was healed at that very hour." (Matt 8:13 NIV)
This is faith: believing fully as truth whatever God
tells us through His written or spoken Word. Any doubt turns faith into a
mockery. Can you imagine what would have happened if the centurion had doubted
Jesus' word?
Would we have reacted the same way as the centurion,
or would we have dragged Jesus to where we think He could meet our need? Or
worse, would we even have asked for Jesus' help at all?
We were heading to the Parc National des
Hautes-gorges-de-la-Rivière-Malbaie (If you can say this mouthful in 2 seconds,
you will be highly esteemed by those around you, even the Romans!). Strangely
enough, neither our map nor our GPS indicated that there was a road leading to
it. The main road, Route 138, was leading us to the town of Clermont, about 23
kilometers from the turn-off to the place with the mile-long name, but there
were no roads leading to that mountain that could be found on paper, online or
even in our GPS! It seemed that in order to visit this park we would have to
make a 23 km hike, one-way, through the wilderness, climb 10 kilometers up and
down that mouthful-named mountain, and then hike back another 23 kilometers back
to the car!
As far as we could tell, we had 2 choices: We could
not go there at all, or we could try and find a road that was not on our maps.
We prayed about it and through Biblical confirmation
we believed our trek would not be in vain. Once we were close to the city of
Clermont, we did, indeed, find a paved road leading off to our left, straight
towards our destination. We passed through a quaint little town called
Saint-Aimé-des-Lacs (which was, interestingly, also not on our map), and we
enjoyed the numerous scarecrow displays the people of this town use as lawn
decorations.
In the more-than-half-a-century that I have lived, the
only One that I always trust is the One called Creator and Redeemer. Only He can
tell me what is true and what is not, for He is the only One who can declare: "I
am the way and the truth and the life." NIV
Hey, what is this scarecrow doing on the back of my
van?
Rob Chaffart
The Illustrator: This daily newsletter is dedicated to encouraging
everyone to look towards Jesus as the source of all the solutions to our
problems. It contains a daily inspirational story, a Bible verse and encouraging
messages. HTML and plain text versions available.
The Nugget: Published three times a week, this newsletter features inspirational devotionals and mini-sermons dedicated to drawing mankind closer to each other and to Christ.