“And without faith it is impossible
to please God.”
-Hebrews 11:6
Does it make any difference what you
believe, just so that you believe it with all your heart? Millions of men and
women would answer no. They would respond that it does not make much difference
what you believe as long as you believe it will all your might. Some would
perhaps add that all religions lead to the same place if you do your best and
follow the teaching.
A number of prominent medical authorities
recognize the therapeutic power of belief as opposed to the debilitating and
unhealthy effects of doubt and skepticism.
Several months ago, I was on an
airplane when it was hit with a strong turbulence. Trays of food were dumped
left and right. The coffee cup I was holding stayed in my hand while the coffee
spiraled towards the ceiling in an eerie column for a few seconds before it
dropped. Most of it missing the cup. I turned to the young man seated next to
me and said, “This turbulence would make even an atheist a little more unsure
of himself, wouldn’t it?”
He smiled and we joked for a minute.
But the incident did trigger off a rather serious discussion on the importance
of faith. As our plane tossed back and forth, I said to the young man, “It isn’t
my faith in those jet engines that is going to get us to our destination, it is
their power to lift us above the storm. No matter how great my faith in them,
if they have not the power to overcome the force of gravity and the turbulence
of the storm, we are in trouble.”
That is the big difference between
faith and belief and faith in God. The validity of Christianity is not the
strength of your belief, but rather its strength is in the empty tomb and God’s
power that brought Jesus forth from the grave.
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