What is faith?

We attend a Sunday evening Bible study/discussion group/social hangout called the Underground. This group is comprised of mostly young adults, usually in their twenties, but with a few others in differing age groups. We had not met in while because of Christmas and the New Year, but we got together this past Sunday.

I want to back up for a moment. God has blessed me greatly. He has given me gifts and abilities that I feel I have only begun to use at this point. I have never had to work too hard for a lot. I don’t want to come off as arrogant or “holier than thou,” it’s just the truth. In most situations, I have been successful. I grant that success to God’s plan and purpose - and it’s safe to say that I would not be where I am today without that relationship. I won’t go into details of successes and failures, but if you are close to me, you probably know most of them.

I say all of this to say - what is faith? I believe in God, even though my eyes have never truly met His. (His have met mine though) Growing up, I always heard faith being discussed as believing without seeing. Going through Bible College, you study the many ways you are actually supposed to see God. I know, it’s weird, right? As I think through the last several years, I’m sad to say that I’ve clung to a Sunday school definition of faith. As a youth pastor, I did a lesson where I used a Skit Guys video called the trust fall. Maybe you have done this exercise before - standing a few feet in front of someone and falling backwards. It’s difficult to do your first time or two. My definition of faith, simply put - being blindfolded and knowing (or hoping) that God will catch me if I fall. That can’t be it for faith though. I tend to question myself on occasion and my own thoughts and beliefs. Why can’t I simply take the blindfold off, turn around, run and embrace my Savior and my God? Fair question.

Okay, now back to the Underground. Sunday evening was a little more eye opening than I realized while I was sitting in the room with ten to fifteen other people. A young missionary to the Philippines was speaking with us. His name is Caleb. Caleb has been in the Philippines for a few years now, and at 26 years old, he has seen and done more than most people hope to do in a lifetime. He told us stories, some I had heard before, and some that I hadn’t. From the moment God laid the Philippines on his heart to where he is now - His life has been a journey of faith.

He told us of many people being healed - true healing. How he had prayed and witnessed a blind man regain his sight. Yeah, just like in the Bible (because I know that’s what you’re thinking). After telling us that, Caleb turned to us and said, “healing can also be a great evangelistic tool!” Okay, so I have prayed for my family and my friends to get well when they are sick, and I believe that God does heal, but why would I (or we) be so hesitant to commit to true healing? Why would I not walk up to a blind man and ask God to heal him? I think what impacted me most was that I have heard of healings like the ones Caleb spoke of, but not ones being done by someone like Caleb. A mid twenties normal guy - basically someone like me...

“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12)

What is my excuse? Now, please do not get me wrong - I don’t believe God gives us gifts and abilities to just throw around - but Christ tells us with faith we’ll do greater works than He did. It’s hard enough for most of us to talk to the person next door, let alone pray that by faith he or she will be healed of what’s hurting them. We pray for healing, but do we ever have the faith to promise it?

When we got home that night, I found myself researching how small a mustard seed truly is. If that’s all it takes, well sure! I’ve got that! And then I questioned why I have yet to use it? I mentioned that I have not had to work terribly hard for some of the blessings I have received, even though I do consider myself a hard worker. At the start of 2012, I found myself growing guilty because I had a great job, a job that was only possible because of God’s timing, and a comfortable life with an amazing wife - but no true sense of purpose. I was doing good things, and doing them for God, but my relationship with Him was suffering. I feel like someone reading this may be in that spot right now.

In Colombia in March 2012, I asked God to give me purpose again. If I raise my voice at our dog when he’s done something wrong, he always walks slowly over to me in a crouched position. I’m never sure if he knows what he has done wrong when he does this. I went to God like that - truly not knowing what I had done wrong. I asked God for direction for Mel and me - and He answered. In that moment, beyond most moments in my life, I had faith. In that moment, God took the blindfold off of me and grabbed me and spoke. In that moment, God bear hugged me! He said “Go,” and by faith, I knew what He meant. In that moment, He took the turn from a God I could not imagine to a God I could actually hear. (Not to say He’s not still indescribable and unthinkable - in the good way)

Just as you can imagine, I had a “faith-spike.” (FYI - That’s when your faith is really high for some period of time after being low.) It was like the moment I asked Christ into my heart. Without knowing what to do with that “faith-spike,” it dies down over time. Don’t get me wrong, I am excited about my Savior. I am excited about our calling. I have been excited ever since that day, and I still have purpose. I’m sure you’ve experienced this spike in faith, but most of us just don’t know what to do with it. If you aren’t going to use it, then why keep so much of it? I mean, it only takes a mustard seed, right?

Sunday, I learned what my mustard seed faith was missing: a willing participant. God is revealing that Spain is just one piece in the puzzle (well, maybe a few pieces because it’s a huge part of the puzzle). Our decision to truly let God use us, by faith, is the rest of it. We have to make a decision to get out of the boat (Matthew 14:29) and to keep our focus on Him - keeping the blindfold off. It’s easy for us to keep repeating the action of falling so He’ll catch us (faith-spikes). I learned Sunday that I want to be active in the work God is doing around the world - not just active in what He’s doing for me. I’ve been blessed, but I want to be a part of the blessing that He has for others. 

"'Come,' he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus." (Matthew 14:29)

As I told my wife, I just needed to put my thoughts into words. I know this is a long post in the blogging world, but it’s one I felt I needed to write. Maybe I just needed to do this for myself alone, or maybe for you too. This past Sunday, I learned something I had never known. God’s still teaching me, and I hope He never stops. Beyond getting to Spain and the updates from the team already there, I do not know what all God is preparing us to do. I doubt I’ll be healing many blind men on the side of the road, and that’s not the point. I have read those verses and Jesus’s words so many times, yet it took Sunday evening for me to truly grasp that the faith He talks about is the same faith we can have. God provides the situations to use those “greater works,” we just need to be willing to step up and know that our God is able!