Day 12 - Friendship & Faith
Some people think that the true essence of faith is knowledge. They think that if you know certain facts or can argue certain apologetic points or can rehearse certain doctrines, you have faith. But knowledge is not the true essence of faith.
Some people think that the true essence of faith is emotion. They think that if you have had certain experiences or that if you feel certain things deeply, you have faith. But emotion is not the true essence of faith.
Some people think that the true essence of faith is behavior. They think that if you abstain from certain activities or if you commit yourself to certain habits, you have faith. But behavior is not the true essence of faith.
People can know and feel and behave without true faith. Knowledge can reinforce and strengthen faith. Emotion can warm and embolden faith. Behavior can be the fruit of faith. But none of them are the true essence of faith and, therefore, aren’t the path to friendship with God.
The true essence of faith is honesty and humility. Faith begins when I come to the end of myself. Faith starts when I can admit with honesty and humility that I don’t have all the answers, that my feelings are finicky, and that my actions are frequently inappropriate. Honesty and humility diminishes me, making room for the love and grace and holiness of God to invade my life. Honesty and humility make room for God in my life. They are what faith in and friendship with God is all about.
What do you think about faith and friendship?
April 27th, 2007 at 6:52 am
It is so hard to get to the end of yourself. That’s one thing having babies does, is get ya to the end of yourself! So maybe it’s like we’re supposed to hand it all over to God in that way, not just our ten hour labors and the day our car dies. But the trouble behind our eyes, our crazy thoughts, our feelings of inadequacy. Even typing this I am saying to myself “am I doing this right? Will my friends accept me?” Faith to me strips away pretenses not because I need to feel pain, but because what is underneath is so much softer and able to love.
Please pray for me. I just feel wierd this week and sick and far off.
Love to my peeps!
Candice
April 29th, 2007 at 11:31 am
so true, robb. thanks for that.
May 1st, 2007 at 8:08 am
I really like this, Rob. I used to think that faith worked in direct contradiction to logic. This was mainly due to the fact that whenever I asked hard questions about spirituality, the answer was usually “You just have to have faith.” So I began to see faith as a lame, catch-all way to avoid difficult issues.
I’m starting to see now that faith should not contradict logic, nor does it replace logic. Faith starts where logic ends. The capacity for faith is a gift from God that helps us to deal with the unknowable. As a mathematician, I love the study of pure mathematics. To me, it is the language of God. There is a concept in mathematics called the ‘uncertainty theorem’ in which it has been proven that an overwhelming majority of theorems CAN NEVER be proven. The ramifications in the math world have been staggering. A field that once saw the world as fundamentally knowable is having to deal with the fact that the overwhelming majority of math theory must be taken on faith. Wow. The world is big and mysterious, and often simply unknowable. Faith is not a crutch. It is an aspect of the human spirit that allows us to function in a confusing world. But we can only engage faith when we admit that we cannot understand everything. When we ask for God’s friendship to aid in the struggles we face. Then faith becomes a powerful force of stability in our lives.
Logic is wonderful. It is a useful tool that makes our lives easier and helps us to solve problems. It is also painfully inadequate to the demands of this world. I love the idea of faith and logic working side by side harmoniously. I think it can be done. We’ll see…
May 10th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
I love what you wrote about honesty and humility. Very well put.