The Gateway to Grace: Faith

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand … for God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

  Romans 5 : 1 – 3

There’s an old story about faith:

A man plans to walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope, pushing a wheelbarrow. Before he starts, he asks an observer: “Do you believe I can cross the Falls on a tightrope with a wheelbarrow?” The man responds, “Yes of course!” The tightrope walker then responds, “Then get in the wheelbarrow.”

There are many misconceptions about faith. The secular skeptic describes it as “believing in something that is not real, that doesn’t exist.” The spiritually oriented or religious tend to understand faith as intellectual certainty.

But intellectual certainty alone — no matter how strong — is little more than pride in one’s knowledge — and invariably fails when the rubber meets the road.

I know: I lived this way for many years, even as a Christian. And it ultimately failed me — disastrously — in a time of desperate need.

After becoming a Christian, I plunged into my newfound faith with a passion. I read the Bible extensively, memorized Scripture, and was more than happy to tell you what I believed and understood, and where you were wrong. In my arrogance I pontificated with other Christians — many of whom had far greater experience and depth in the the faith than I. As you might expect, this was not well received, although in their grace, love, and patience they tolerated me in my foolishness, with its clueless, erstwhile belief in the superiority of my knowledge.

Then I hit the wall.

As I have detailed elsewhere, a catastrophic wood shop accident nearly resulted in the loss of my left hand, and with it the loss of my career as a physician. As I lay on the wood shop floor, holding my mangled left hand, I stared into a very dark future: loss of my residency, my career, my musical aptitude, and virtually everything envisioned in my future.

And then, prompted by some unseen Presence or strength, I was led to thank God for this horrible injury.

This did not arise from my intellectual convictions about Christianity. No Scripture verse or biblical teaching came to mind.

It was, in fact, my first real act of genuine faith.

So what is this thing called faith, if not intellectual conviction? Of course, mental certainty does not preclude real faith, and may well coincide with it, but it is almost incidental. So the heart of genuine faith is this: it is about trust.

The new believer exhibits the first step of this trust in acknowledging the nature of Christ, and the act of accepting the offer of salvation through Him. The public declaration of this salvation is, in many ways, the cost of rejecting an old life, and the risk of ridicule and rejection by others. But this is just the beginning.

For true faith requires action. There is, in any act of faith, a cost — and this sacrifice of the self is the first step in moving toward the goal of a relationship with God, one based on trust and dependence.

For underlying this trust in God is a certainty, weak as it may be at first, that God is in fact dependable; that He is wise and all-knowing — and the basis of our relationship with Him is His infinite love for each of us, manifested in the sacrifice of His Son on the cross for our sin and salvation.

And my understanding of God’s nature can be a critical stumbling block to a faith which grows, prospers and changes life.

If you believe in an indifferent God, or an angry, vengeful God who constantly punishes us for our shortcomings; who does not answer prayers because we haven’t prayed enough; or gone to church enough, or read the Bible enough, your trust in Him will be enfeebled, stunted, and your Christianity will remain forever based on a false gospel and a false god.

For faith depends on its object to be trust-worthy. Coming to depend on a trustworthy God almost invariably develops, however, in small, incremental steps.

Ideally this growing trust is best fostered in relationships with other Christians. When we begin to trust others, engendered by transparency and honesty (which leads to humility), and we learn the outcome of others who have trusted and experienced His goodness and faithfulness in their brokenness, we become more willing, with their encouragement and testimony, to start trusting God ourselves, initiated often in small, daily decisions.

So we pray about lost keys, or parking spaces, or a difficult meeting, and find the outcome surprising (that insight conveyed by the Holy Spirit within), it is confirmation of the goodness and compassion of a God who loves us beyond measure and cares about the smallest aspects of our lives.

There are pitfalls which can befall us, however. Ultimately the key to growth in faith is submission to His will, the surrender of our wills to His. When we accept Christ, we accept the lordship of Christ — to wit, we surrender our wills to His, trusting in His wisdom and perfect plan for us and for the world around us.

But there is no small peril that we demand of God that which is really our own will. So we pray that we or a loved one be healed of cancer; or for world peace; or for a restored marriage after divorce, and so on. These are good things; but if we do not accept that in God’s perfect wisdom and sovereign plan He may allow an outcome which is contrary — and indeed far deeper and wiser — than that which we have so earnestly sought, then we will be angry, resentful and confused at God’s failure to our requests

Our cancer may be the suffering and trial which draws us and others closer to God — a more important outcome for us than even our healing. World peace will come, but not until the evil of this world is finally destroyed by Him. A broken marriage may be the vehicle that brings our ex- to repent and find Christ — or restoration may prove a nightmare with resentment, abuse, and a failure to resolve the issues which ruptured it (including our own!). Only by submission to His will, and acceptance of outcomes not of our desires, can we begin to see God’s plan unfold over time and in the lives of others.

So the key to faith is first and foremost trust, empowered by submission to the will of our Father, who means us no ill but loves us beyond measure, and desires that we draw ever closer to Him.

So dip your toe in the water of faith, and hop in that wheelbarrow. You will find the tightrope vastly wider than you can know, and begin to experience the power, peace and joy that only He can provide.