FAITH IS BEING CONFIDENT
Do not then throw away your confidence, for it carries a great reward. Heb. 10:35, N.E.B.
Would you be willing to make a promise to do absolutely anything I asked you to do, without questioning? If you were to answer, "Yes! Of course!" then I would have some questions about you. Most likely you would respond with cautious questions such as "How can I know you won't ask me to do something foolish? Would you want to prove all that authority you have over me? Or abuse it?"
You probably would not be satisfied if I replied in soothing tones, "Just trust me. Take a blind leap in the dark, and just trust me." You would ask what basis you would have for trusting me, what evidence upon which to base your confidence.
It seems reasonable to relate to fellow human beings on this basis. We place our confidence in people only after we have come to have sufficient basis for doing so. We see no virtue in blind faith; we trust only the trustworthy. Why, then, do we feel so hesitant to relate to God in the same way? Why do we feel embarrassed about looking for evidence for trusting Him, when He has gone to such great lengths to give us so much of it? Why do we employ the highest mental capacities He has given us when making decisions of modest importance, but set them aside when making the most crucial decisions of our entire existence?
Through the ages, many Christians have felt that faith is simply a choice to believe religious convictions without any basis for doing so--that to ask for evidence is to undermine faith. Because the powers of intellect often have been perverted to the detriment of religious experience, it has seemed antireligious to bring careful mental discipline to one's informed trust in God.
But our God is not afraid of the evidence! He is not worried what people will find when they look closely in His direction. He knows that we turned from Him in the first place because we handled the evidence in a shoddy manner. He knows that through the centuries those who have been His best friends have always been those who understood Him most clearly and could speak most accurately about Him. He invites us to become acquainted with Him in Jesus, and then not to throw away our confidence.
Do not then throw away your confidence, for it carries a great reward. Heb. 10:35, N.E.B.
Would you be willing to make a promise to do absolutely anything I asked you to do, without questioning? If you were to answer, "Yes! Of course!" then I would have some questions about you. Most likely you would respond with cautious questions such as "How can I know you won't ask me to do something foolish? Would you want to prove all that authority you have over me? Or abuse it?"
You probably would not be satisfied if I replied in soothing tones, "Just trust me. Take a blind leap in the dark, and just trust me." You would ask what basis you would have for trusting me, what evidence upon which to base your confidence.
It seems reasonable to relate to fellow human beings on this basis. We place our confidence in people only after we have come to have sufficient basis for doing so. We see no virtue in blind faith; we trust only the trustworthy. Why, then, do we feel so hesitant to relate to God in the same way? Why do we feel embarrassed about looking for evidence for trusting Him, when He has gone to such great lengths to give us so much of it? Why do we employ the highest mental capacities He has given us when making decisions of modest importance, but set them aside when making the most crucial decisions of our entire existence?
Through the ages, many Christians have felt that faith is simply a choice to believe religious convictions without any basis for doing so--that to ask for evidence is to undermine faith. Because the powers of intellect often have been perverted to the detriment of religious experience, it has seemed antireligious to bring careful mental discipline to one's informed trust in God.
But our God is not afraid of the evidence! He is not worried what people will find when they look closely in His direction. He knows that we turned from Him in the first place because we handled the evidence in a shoddy manner. He knows that through the centuries those who have been His best friends have always been those who understood Him most clearly and could speak most accurately about Him. He invites us to become acquainted with Him in Jesus, and then not to throw away our confidence.
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