Hello again,
Friends.
This is Mark Gladman,
Also known as Brother Frederick James,
Your friendly neighborhood monk in dogs.
Welcome back to another installment.
Of look again.
So today,
Let me ask you a question.
What if faith isn't about being certain?
And what if faith isn't believing more things?
Now I know this might sound strange because We've often taught that faith means believing that God exists,
Or the Bible,
Or the right doctrines,
Or that Jesus is Lord.
But in that sense,
Faith becomes an intellectual activity.
But the more you can confidently say,
I believe that.
Then the stronger your faith must be.
And in that scenario doubt becomes dangerous because questions are threatening.
Uncertainty becomes something you have to get rid of because surely a person with a strong faith knows what they believe.
But what if we've confused faith with certainty?
What if faith has nothing to do with having all the answers.
And more about trusting someone enough to take the next step.
Now I want you to think about the difference there.
I can believe that a bridge exists.
That's information.
I can believe that the bridge is structurally sound.
That's confidence.
But faith is what happens.
When I walk across it.
Faith.
Isn't just something I hold in my head,
It's something I entrust myself to.
And that's much more closer to the biblical idea.
The New Testament word in Greek for this is pistis,
And that's the word that's translated as faith,
But it has a much deeper sense of trust,
Faithfulness.
And fidelity to it.
It's not just saying,
I think this is true.
It's saying,
I trust this enough to live differently.
And then when we see it like that,
Suddenly faith is much more interesting.
Because you can have a really strong opinion about God and have very little faith.
We can know all the doctrines,
Win all the arguments,
Quote all the verses.
Gosh,
The people who can quote all the verses and still not trust God.
And the opposite's possible too.
You can have questions,
You can have doubts,
You can.
.
.
Have moments when you're not sure what you believe,
Or even moments when you don't believe,
And you can still be moving towards God.
Because faith.
.
.
Is about what you do.
With uncertainty.
Look at the disciples.
Jesus says,
Follow me.
And what happens next?
When they're not taking through some sort of three-stage course.
They don't get a textbook or a strategic plan.
Bye.
Even don't get every question they ask answered.
But they walk.
They follow,
They learn along the way.
Peter doesn't understand everything.
Thomas doesn't understand everything.
Judas definitely doesn't understand everything.
The disciples repeatedly misunderstand Jesus.
They argue and panic and doubt and run away to the point where Jesus actually gets quite upset with them sometimes.
But Jesus doesn't throw up his arms and go,
Well,
That's it.
Apparently none of you have faith.
He keeps walking with them because faith.
It's not like an exam you have to pass before you can belong.
Face a relationship.
And in that relationship is where we learn.
To trust and that really should change how we think about doubt.
Because doubt isn't always the opposite of faith.
Sometimes doubts what happens when the faith that you inherited becomes too small for the life that you're actually living.
You know,
When we start to see things a little bit different.
And then the questions begin.
And the old answers stop working?
Something doesn't make sense anymore,
And you think,
Oh no,
My faith's disappearing.
Well,
Maybe not.
Maybe your faith's growing up.
Maybe you're moving from a faith that's based on having the right answers to a faith that's capable of living with mystery.
And mystery's not ignorance.
It's a deeper understanding and reality.
Them were able to comprehend.
And if God's God,
Why would we expect to have God completely figured out,
Right?
Maybe.
The most.
Faithful prayer that you can pray.
Is Adana.
I don't know why this happened.
I don't know what God's doing.
I don't know how this will work.
I don't know what I believe right now.
And maybe it's in those moments we might hear the voice of God saying,
But hey.
You're still here.
And that,
My friend.
Is faith.
And this is why.
A lot of the prayers we read in scripture even.
Don't sound very certain.
The Psalms are full of Where are you?
Why have you abandoned me?
How long?
Why?
The person who's asking is still talking to God.
That's important.
The opposite of faith isn't doubt.
Maybe sometimes the opposite of faith is indifference—that the person who's wrestling with God.
Is still in relationship with God.
That's the important bit.
Jacob wrestles through the night.
Job argues.
The prophets complain.
The psalmists shout and lament.
Thomas says essentially,
I need to see this for myself.
Jesus doesn't throw him out.
Jesus meets him right there in that moment.
Think about that.
Thomas's doubt doesn't cause Jesus to disappear.
Jesus walks directly into the doubt and maybe.
.
.
This is what God does with us.
We think,
We have to resolve every question before we can come to God,
But I'm wondering whether God's perfectly capable of meeting us inside the question.
So what if your faith isn't measured by how many things you're certain about,
But by your willingness to remain open.
To keep seeking,
To keep listening,
To keep loving,
To keep walking.
To keep asking honest questions,
To keep turning towards God,
Even when you can't see very far ahead.
That's a very different kind of faith.
And it's much closer to life.
Because certainty's easy.
When everything's going well,
Isn't it?
But life eventually asks us questions that have no neat answers.
Sometimes someone you love dies or a relationship breaks up.
Or your plans collapse,
Or you pray and nothing seems to happen.
Someone suffers for no apparent reason and suddenly that neat theology you had at 25 doesn't quite fit anymore.
And you have a choice.
You can pretend.
Where you can wrestle.
And so wrestling.
.
.
Is one of the ways that faith becomes real.
Because eventually you discover that faith is about discovering who you can trust.
When you don't have an explanation.
And I think that's why Jesus doesn't say,
Understand everything.
He says,
Follow me.
Big difference.
Understanding,
That's having a map.
Following.
It's just about trusting the person who's walking ahead of you.
And you may not know where the road goes,
And you may not understand why the road bends,
And you may not know what happens around the next corner.
But you keep walking.
Because the one you're following.
Is guiding you and you're learning to trust.
So something to try today.
Take one question you have about God.
Something you genuinely don't know.
Don't want you to try and solve it or Google it or find somebody who'll give you a five-point answer.
Just sit with it,
With God.
And say,
I don't know.
But I'm still here.
And see if you can discover that those two sentences can live together.
I don't know,
And I'm still here.
Because remember,
Faith is discovering that questions don't have to take you away from God.
Sometimes they take you deeper.
And perhaps the person with the strongest faith isn't the person who can answer every question.
Maybe it's the person who can look at the mystery.
And still take the next step.
The one who can say,
I don't know.
And I'm still here.
All we have to do?
Is look again.
And may grace,
Peace and love be with you and remain with you as you go today and always.
Until tomorrow.
Bye for now.
