As a pastor I have the opportunity to visit with people in some of the best moments of their life. Being invited to participate in weddings and anniversaries provides for lots of fun and some great memories. I also have the privilege, though, of walking alongside people in some of the most challenging of times. To be able to visit with a person in their greatest time of need is what friendship is really all about, and I have counted it an honor to meet with people at some of these dark times. What I have found in comparing these two is that the real test of a person’s character comes in those dark times. Who a person really is, and what they believe most about life is revealed in those darkest hours. What seems to make the most difference for people is “faith”.
This is a strange word that seems to have fallen on hard times. People don’t know what it means, and those who think they do, scoff at it. Many people would take this word and oversimplify it by saying that faith, as in “I have a faith” is a way of saying that you are part of a religion. The word “faith” has more attached to it than the simple notion by which we mean to say that “I have a religion”. Faith is far more than being a list of statements that we believe to be true and claim to live by.
I want to suggest to you that faith in its truest sense is a word that we use to characterise a belief in something that we can’t see or hear. To have faith is to believe in something that while totally rational is beyond our ability to prove scientifically. There is a section in the New Testament in the book we call Hebrews. In chapter eleven we find what I think is the best definition out there for the word “faith”. There it tells us that faith “..is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
I love to reflect on how the people of Israel were led by God out of slavery and into the promised land. You can read the historical account in the books of Exodus and Numbers. These people who were wandering in the desert are asked to trust God for this great promised land. Though they can’t see it, they are told it exists. As they wander in the desert they are reminded of its reality, but they struggle because they can’t see it. All along the issue is a battle of faith. Would they be willing to trust in the promise of God? In the end it’s a great picture to read about Moses being given a glimpse of the promised land though he himself never got to enter into it. That is faith. Believing though not seeing.
Being a column for “reflections” my question to all who read this article would be this: are you prepared to take a step of faith? Are you prepared to not just contemplate on the possible existence of a life after death, but to take a step of faith and trust God at his word that there is a life after death? Are we prepared to rest in the hands of God, trusting our very souls with Him, that when that day comes that he will carry us through death and into a life of eternity with Him?
I can tell you without hesitation that from my experience those who have faith in God have proven better able to face the challenges of this life including physical death, with grace and strength. Faith is far more than a naive optimism. It is not just about a power of positive thinking. It is a life-changing conviction about the very existence and nature of God.