How many times have you been told to “just have faith”? If you’re anything like me, it’s been a lot. Over the course of my life, I have been told again and again, whether to my face or through social media, that I just need to have faith. And don’t get me wrong, having faith is a very important thing, but when the message of “just have faith” gets turned into “you need to have blind faith”, I start to have an issue. The idea of just having faith is one thing, but I find that the concept often gets transformed into the idea that we need to blindly follow God -- which FYI, I disagree with. So if you’ve struggled with the thought of needing to have blind faith, I encourage you to keep reading. I’ll share what I’ve learned and hopefully, you find it useful.
(One thing to note: I don’t have all the answers; I’m still learning. So I’m going to tell you what I’ve learned, and hopefully, it’ll be able to help you answer the question for yourself.)
In order to understand why our faith in God isn’t blind, I think we need to start with the definition of faith, according to the Bible. There is a section of verses in Hebrews that explains exactly what it means to have faith:
“Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see. Through their faith, the people in the days of old earned a good reputation. By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.” Hebrews 11:1-3
So let’s break these verses down. The first verse (bolded), is a reminder of the fact that faith is really just a depiction of our hopes. We all have hopes. Whether they’re small or gigantic, there is always something that we’re hoping for. Faith is the place where we get to place those hopes. If we didn’t have faith, we wouldn’t have an assurance that those hopes and dreams were anything more than flimsy. Faith allows them to become a reality, it gives us the courage to pursue them.
The second verse (italicized) brings our attention back to the old testament. Think back to all the stories of faith in the old testament. There are so many instances where people had faith that God would show up, and he did! To name a few: Sarah and Abraham had a son, even in their old age (Genesis 21:1-7), David kept his faith that God would protect him, and he did (Daniel 6), David had faith that God would give him the strength to beat Goliath (1st Samuel 17), and so many more. When the people had faith, God showed up!
Finally, the last verse (underlined) is how we can see faith. Think about the creation of the earth. In Genesis 1:3, God says “let there be light” and there was. We know this happened, we know that God created the world, because we have faith.
Okay, so now that we’ve defined faith, let’s talk about why faith isn’t blind. When we have faith, we are not just blindly jumping, we have reasons. Many commentaries say that faith is an organ that allows us to see invisible things. The organ of our faith can be compared to our eyesight. With our eyesight, we can see physical things, but with faith, we get to see invisible things. We get to see the miraculous works of God, the way that He moves in our lives. Another reason that faith isn’t blind is that our reasons can’t be measured by a physical thing (like time or distance) because they are more of a sense. They’re measured spiritually.
Alright so let’s get into some specific examples. Start with your own life. Think about the ways that God has shown up in the past. He’s been moving in your story all along, and I’m sure if you take a look at your past, you can find points where God has shown up. I think that if we can see those moments in our own history, our faith isn’t blind. We have reasons to believe because God has shown up in the past. Next, dig into the Bible. God’s faithfulness is the string that we can follow throughout the entirety of the Bible. I listed a few stories above from the Old Testament, but those are only a few of many, many stories. Read His word, get to know Him. Your faith won’t be blind if you know God. My last suggestion is to look around you. Look at the sky, the earth, the animals, the oceans. Think about how the sun rises and the wind blows. In order to have all of those things working so perfectly together, the world must have been made by a divine & creative Creator. I find my faith so strongly in the beauty of the world around me and the intricacy of how it all fits together. Our God created this for us to live in.
This is what I’ve learned. Faith isn’t blind. Faith comes from all around us. If you look, you’ll find it, I promise.
For further reading, I recommend Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. It takes a much deeper dive into what faith is.
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