Saturday, September 14, 2019

BELIEF WITHOUT PROOF


“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
-Hebrews 11:1

“Faith,” wrote the Quaker scholar Elton Trueblood, “is not belief without proof, but trust without reservation.” Yet the fact is, faith seems to contradict the world of reality.

The saying goes, “Seeing is believing” but in reality, believing is seeing. This is what Jesus taught in John 10. It was part of a heated conversation Jesus had with some religious leaders of the day who called Him “demon-possessed” (John 10:19). The people, who had more spiritual insight than their leaders said, “These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” (John 10:21).

Jesus said, “Believe the miracles, that you may learn and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father” (John 10:38). Notice the progression of those three verbs which are like steps to spiritual understanding: First, believe – then learn, then understand.

We reverse it today. First, we want to understand everything. We want proof. Only then are we willing to believe. That’s our problem. Believing comes first, said Jesus. Then knowing, then understanding.

In writing to the Corinthians, Paul said, “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corintihans 2:14).

Have you reversed the order, insisting that you understand first, and then you will believe? Try it the other way around. Believe, and with the step of faith will come knowledge, then understanding. Believing is seeing!

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