This is day ten of twenty-one days of posts between January 10th and January 30th of 2021. Hello again to those who read previous days, and hello to those of you who may have stumbled across this post “out of order”. You should go back and read from Day 1, for a few reasons. It explains why I am doing this. It is the first one, and I may make reference to something in it in this post or a later one. It also has a list with each day’s post (once they are available) and you can jump to whatever topic you are interested in. Thanks for reading!
Here we are at day ten and we’re circling back around to faith as the main topic. As you can see from the title, I sarcastically asked for both faith and proof. It is human instinct to want proof, evidence of something being true, but we as Christians are asked to live by faith. In fact, we aren’t Christians until we demonstrate faith by believing in the gift of salvation, for which we have only the proof offered by others of the faith, the words of the Bible, and that feeling we get when we know…really know, that the Holy Spirit is near.
Faith, like many things I’ve written about this week, is hard. Faith like a child, as is required for receiving the kingdom of God, is really hard. Mark 10:15 tell us:
Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.
Like a little child…that’s with no reservations, no doubts, no preconceived notions, no guile, no shame, no hesitance. I’ll say it again, that’s really hard. As adults we have all of these things, learned over years of life, dealing with other people, experiencing heartache, betrayal, hurt, pain, and disappointment. To sweep all of that aside and say, “Lord, I believe.” is the hardest thing some may ever do. But God wants it to be so simple. We complicate it with our human failings, our doubts, our fears. But He tells us:
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Matthew 6:26 (NIV)
We worry about paying bills, going to work, keeping up the house, keeping up appearances, and all of the deception involved in those things, that it is difficult to simply have faith. I’ll be one of the first to say, “give me some proof”. Give me something to touch, see, hear, taste or smell that proves God loves me and will redeem me. I don’t want to just read Bible verses, hear songs, or even see lives changed. I want more. Then I read the passage in Matthew 12 where the Pharisees ask for a sign. Jesus replied to them:
…A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign!…
Matthew 12:39
He goes on to explain that the only sign that will be given is that of Jonah, who was in the belly of the whale for three days and nights, just as Jesus would soon be in the grave for three days before the resurrection. As He further explained, something greater than Jonah was before them and yet, the Pharisees did not understand.
So while my flesh desires proof, I am reminded in scripture that all the proof I need has been given. My job is only to have faith, tremendous faith, the faith of a child, the faith of a mustard seed, at least, which is one of the smallest seeds there is, physically. If I do have such faith, I can uproot trees (Luke 17:6) and move mountains (Matthew 17:20), but most importantly, I can be redeemed and become a child of God.
That is the whole point of faith.
Featured Image: Photo by Samantha Sophia on Unsplash