kayfromhome

Faith is not a Christian trademark.  Everyone has faith.

Faith is driving through an intersection when you have the green light, trusting that the car to your right—driven by a man you don’t know—will not drive into you.  Faith is trusting in the law of gravity (which I have never seen) and in the existence of echolocation (which I have never heard).

Faith is commonplace.  It’s also mind-boggling.

As a believer in Christ, I understand a very specific need for faith.  I know that without faith, we cannot please God. (Heb. 11)  I also know that hope is faith in the unseen (Heb. 11). Faith as a Christian says that there is something more to this life, beyond what my physical eyes can see.

If you have been a part of a Christian community for a while you’ve probably heard the term “blind faith.”  I’m not entirely sure where this term originated.  Most likely it comes from from 2 Corinthians 5:7, “We walk by faith and not by sight.”  While I understand the connection, I don’t believe we should let this scripture reinterpret the way faith is portrayed in the rest of the bible.

In the Bible being blind is never a good thing.  Jesus said he came to reveal.  Jesus healed blindness; physical and spiritual because it was considered a sickness.  We are not called to be blind and brainless, groping our way together down a dark path (think Bird Box), though it may feel that way sometimes.

As Christians, our spiritual eyes have been opened and we have seen.  In fact, scripture says we have tasted and seen and we know that He is good.  He has shown Himself to us.

2 Cor. 3:16-18 says that when we became renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit, a veil was removed and our eyes were opened. “… And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

Those who remain blind and dumb are those who have yet to be regenerated by the saving work of God’s Spirit.  To be “blind” and “darkened” is to be unbelieving.  (Eph. 4:17-18)  Blind faith, then, is for the unsaved and the unregenerate, which born again Christians are not.

The unveiled do not confess faith in the unknown.  We confess faith because of what we do know.  More specifically, because of Who we know.

I do not have blind faith, because I have tasted and seen the goodness of God.  I have learned the character and faithfulness of God.  We must learn to take Him at His word.  In order to take Him at His word, one must first know His word, which is why wide-eyed study of the holy scripture is so very important to the health of a Christian.

There are many things that we do not know, but they must all be interpreted through what we do know.  When we do not know the outcome, we must strive to still our hearts because we know the owner of the outcome.

God never asked us to walk through this life with our eyes closed.  Rather, He asks us to daily keep our eyes upon Him.

Suggested listening: “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”