~ Faith Enough To Fail

Recently I came across the statement “faith is spelt RISK”.  The source may have been from a number of places but that doesn’t affect its value as a truism.

The basic dynamic is that faith is something that is based on the absence of concrete foundation to base our decision upon.  Faith decision is making a choice based on our best evidence; it is not a decision on knowledge.  It is inherently reasonable that we should couch our decision in the most definitive manner but it is always the response of our heart more than our mind.

The word faith is a big word in Jesus’ vocabulary throughout the Gospels.  The word appears 109 times in the four books we call the Gospels and 149 times if we include the Acts of the Apostles. 

Interestingly this word that has developed “Core value” for our Community of believers has a multitude of uses even by the Master.  For instance in John 14:10-12 we find Jesus saying to the disciples.

“¹¹Have faith in me when I say that the Father is one with me and that I am one with the Father. Or else have faith in me simply because of the things I do.¹²I tell you for certain that if you have faith in me, you will do the same things that I am doing. You will do even greater things, now that I am going back to the Father.”

And in Matt 14 verses 22 to 32 is the account of Jesus walking on the water where Peter joins Him and then realizes what they are doing.  In verse 28 Peter tells Jesus to call him but by verse 31 Peter has called out tho Jesus to “save him” whereupon Jesus makes the following comment

"You surely don't have much faith. Why do you doubt?”

Interestingly Jesus uses the word to commend people who act and demonstrate their belief.   In Matthew Chapter 8 is the account of the Roman officer who told Him that all He needs to do was to order the healing.  In the following chapter is the story of the account of the woman with the “flow of blood”.  This woman who was ceremonially unclean took all sorts of risks to get to touch a part of Jesus robe and yet this woman “demonstrated faith” according to Jesus’ estimation.

In Mark 9 the account of the demonic young man whose father said to the Master “Please have pity and help us if you can!" Jesus reply that all thing are possible evinces the response "I do have faith! Please help me to have even more."  Jesus sent the demon packing.

Years ago a minister in America coined a statement along the lines of “Trust God and act as if you do”.  This is the sort of thing that I am alluding to go along this line.

We must be prepared to launch out on a faith venture in the most uncertain of times if we believe that the Master is in it.  The way may not be certain but if we believe that it is God’s intent for us to take these steps then faith must be our companion as we step out.  Always aware that we may be wrong and that at any time a door may be closed on us by our Master.

Our society is success oriented.  We step out knowing, or hoping that we will succeed.  Ultimately it is God who asks us to take risks on His behalf and to step out based on our understanding but by the same token Father is more other and in control of us than we are.

We must be prepared to risk for our Father’s glory, we must keep our eyes on Him as our model.  Is there any other way to live?