Being analytical, I tend to
look at things at their extremes. If things still make sense at the end points
usually everything is O.K. in the middle. When I look at “faith” it is
difficult to put it into discrete terms. Several have tried to explain these
difficult words like faith and love by coming up with cute postulates like:
Love is the feeling you feel when you feel a feeling like you’ve never felt
before. That could describe a number of things, but not love.
I’ve heard faith described
as this: Going to the edge of all darkness and taking one more step. The
implication is that faith is blind. You have to trust even though you cannot
see.
The challenge with this type
of simplistic approach to explaining such important topics is they misrepresent
the truth that is fundamental to understanding our Creator. The Bible tells us
that God is love. If you insert the definition given above it falls apart
rather quickly: God is a feeling you feel when you feel a feeling that you’ve
never felt before. Ridiculous.
Then we look at faith.
Again, the Bible tells us that “faith is the substance of things hoped for …”
If you hope for something, you can see it, describe it, anticipate it, etc. How
can something hoped for be in utter darkness? No, faith is knowing. If you have
faith it is because you have the assurance through God’s word that it will come
to pass.
Now, let us look at our
topic for the day. What is the opposite of faith? Most would say unbelief.
However, unbelief is the opposite of belief. Belief and faith are not the same
thing. Therefore, unbelief is not the opposite of faith. Some would say doubt is
the opposite of faith. Certainty is the opposite of doubt, not faith. Certainty
is something like 2 + 2 = 4. That does not require faith.
I believe the opposite of
faith is fear. Fear is believing something bad is going to happen. It is not
possible to have fear and faith about the same issue. They cannot coexist. One
displaces the other. The way you remove fear is to develop faith in that area.
I know. That also sounds
simplistic. It is that simple, but far from simplistic. Here is an example. Job
lived in fear. Read the story. He was afraid for his children, for his
possessions, for his very life. It was not until after he heard and believed
the truth about God that his situation was turned around.
If you find yourself in fear
in a particular area of your life, relationships, health, finances, etc., open
the Bible and begin reading related verses that speak the God’s truth about
your circumstances. Believe His perspective. Faith will rise as you allow this
truth to overtake the fear.
Take time this weekend to
think on these things. Faith is the substance … that displaced fear.
No comments:
Post a Comment