Built to Believe
by Pastor Chris Williamson
It amazes me how much faith I exhibit everyday without even thinking about it.
Whenever I drive: I trust that the people in their cars will not hit me from behind or cross the median and hit me head on. I trust these people to turn when they indicate with their blinker that they are going to turn. I’ve never seen or met these drivers, yet I trust them. At night, I really can’t see who is driving. I can’t tell if they are preoccupied (i.e. texting) or inebriated drivers. Nevertheless, I trust them because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be on the road myself.
Whenever I sit down in a chair: I trust that the chair will hold me up. I never look under the chair to see how many legs it has; I just trust it has four sturdy legs, and as a result, I put all of my weight on it.
Whenever I ask people for directions: I trust that strangers I don’t know and have never met to lead me in the right direction when I’m lost. I never ask them how long they have lived in the area or if they are directionally challenged. I just trust them.
Whenever I get medicine: I never ask the pharmacists if they put the correct medicine and dosage in my bottle because I trust them. I trust that the degrees on their walls are from reputable institutions, and that they didn’t cheat in school. I trust them without equivocation.
Whenever I fly on an airplane: I trust the pilot, whom I have never seen, don’t know, and have never met, to fly me safely to my destination. I put my life in the hands of this “invisible” person. Every now and then I may hear his voice over the speakers, and when I do, I trust what he has to say without reservation. I trust this stranger so much that I even go to sleep while he flies a multi-ton aircraft through the skies at hundreds of miles per hour at upwards of thirty-thousand feet!
Whenever a doctor operates on me: How can I tell whether or not she will cut, remove, or repair the actual thing that needs attention? I can’t watch the doctor as she works because I had to trust an anesthesiologist to put me to sleep with the proper dosage. I trust that the needles have never been used and that all of the equipment is sterile. I do all of this without asking questions.
Whenever I eat food prepared by someone else: At a restaurant, I can’t see the people in the back and neither do I know them. I don’t know whether or not they’ve washed their hands or if they cooked the portions properly.
Everyday throughout the day we can trust fallen, sinful, imperfect people we don’t even know to keep their word and to do right by us, but when it comes time to trust God, many of us have trouble believing all of a sudden? God has to be rationalized with our senses. He often has to be proven, examined, and figured out before we can completely trust Him.
Why is it that Christians can trust God for eternal life but we often have trouble trusting Him for the next five minutes? Why is it that we sometimes have trouble trusting the Father with our finances, our children, our careers, and our needs when He has NEVER failed us?
The truth is, God built us to believe. He fashioned us to be beings that live by faith and not by sight. Adam never saw God but He knew God was there in the garden with Him. This is why living by faith for humans is instinctive and innate because God made us to know Him even though we can’t see him—for now.
After being raised from the dead, Jesus told Thomas in John 20:29, “You believe because you have seen Me. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Jesus was talking about you and me. We are blessed even though we haven’t actually seen Jesus with our physical eyes, but we will one day. Thank God that He requires for us to relate to Him on the basis of faith alone and not reason alone.
So as we trust everything and everyone today without asking many questions, let us make sure to give God the same courtesy! When we have faith it pleases God (Hebrews 11:6). He built us to believe so let’s start believing without constantly questioning Him or leaning on our own understanding.
POSTED: March 11, 2014