Faith!

By Atul Kumar

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:” — (Ephesians 2:8)

By faith in Jesus Christ, we are saved. Salvation is the end of religion and faith in the Saviour, is the means to achieve that end. Everything that God offers can be received by faith. The Bible says that nothing is impossible with God and also that nothing is impossible to the man who believes in God.

God becomes available in all His glory, power, wisdom and love to the man who believes in Him. Even little faith in the Almighty God is sufficient for Him, to act in the life of the believer. However, little doubt is not same as little faith. Therefore the Bible says, “If a man ask, let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord” (James 1:6-7).

Also, “Without faith it is impossible to please God: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).

Jesus was often grieved by the lack of faith in His disciples, who stayed with Him continually. One of the instance is written in the book of Mark in the Bible. “On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side (of the sea).” Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!”

And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”” (Mark 4:35-40) It is difficult for many of us to understand, that when His own disciples became doubtful, how can we continue to believe without failing.

However, Jesus was also amazed at the great faith of several people, who had not been with Him personally. In the book of Matthew in the Bible we read such as instance. “Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.” But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.” But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.” (Matthew 15:21-28).

Jesus noticed such cases of doubt and great faith and He still finds people of both kind among us. There are people who, in spite of all the evidences in front of them become doubtful. And there also also who see the evidence which is hidden to others and believe in Jesus. After Jesus died and on the third day rose again, He was seen by His disciples. But one of them, Thomas, was absent at that instance. When the other disciples told him, that they had seen the Lord, he replied, “Unless I see in His hands the  print of the nails (a sign of His crucification), and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side (where He was pierced with a spear, when He was on the cross), I will not believe.” After eight days Jesus appeared to his disciples again. Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:24-29).

Why do we disbelieve so easily? How can we continue in faith in Jesus Christ without failing?

What is faith?

The Bible says that, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”(Hebrews 11:1). Many people, including several Christians think that, faith means to believe in something without evidence and even contrary to the evidence.

Such a thing is not possible. You cannot make even one human being believe in this way, in anything. A person who does not see the need to be saved and who does not recognise that Jesus is the Saviour, cannot believe. He may be persuaded and he may agree to the Christian religion, but until he sees the evidence, he cannot truly believe. To please some person or society, he may fool others and himself and think that he believes, but if he has not seen the evidence himself, he believes not. Faith without

evidence is not possible.

The same is true with those who deny the existence of God. They do so without any evidence and hence their belief is very shallow. Most often, the real cause of disbelief in God has moral issues at its bottom. A person would not subject to moral authority of God and therefore he justifies himself by saying, “There is no God”. This belief is also supported by unrighteousness and scandals among the professors of religion. The name of God is blasphemed because of those who call upon His holy name in vain.

Surely they will not be without guilt. Anyways, those who deny God, do not profess such things because of any evidence which they have, of the non existence of God. That’s why the Bible says, ‘The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God”’ (Psalms 14:1).

Not that he thinks it through but he says in his heart, as if by saying again and again, his belief will be strengthened. It does strengthen in a way, but it’s not a real belief. He is not sure. He has no evidence. In a similar manner, many Christians also don’t think, but only say, “That there is God”. They say unto Jesus, “Lord! Lord!”, but they only say. In reality, they don’t believe, because they have never seen or experienced the evidence themselves.

We cannot love by force, neither can we believe by force. The mind will refuse and revolt at such forcefulness. Our mind is actually less flexible than we imagine. When our eyes are exposed to an object, it’s image is formed on the retina involuntarily and the image is processed involuntarily by our minds. In the same manner sweetness, beauty, scent etc. are recognized involuntarily. When our mind perceives some evidence from the respective senses and mental faculties, it must of necessity believe that evidence. It has no choice. It’s an involuntary act of mind.

Therefore, the meaning of faith is to believe the truth, as and when it is presented to the mind. Many people blame God for their lack of faith. They consider that they don’t believe in God because truth has been hidden from them and that’s why they have not seen it. They imagine that, if a clear evidence is presented to them they will most certainly believe in God.

In a similar manner, many Christians believe that being doubtful about God is not a sin. They think that they can do very little to help it. They imagine that somehow God has not given them the gift of faith and therefore they continue in the state of doubt and unbelief. They pray for more faith but their prayer is not answered because of lack of faith. They acknowledge their condition very frankly that their faith is very little. They consider it as a sign of true humility to accept such things. But the truth is far from it. You cannot cover a sin with a pretended virtue. We read in the Bible, “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12). We see it clearly, that unbelief is considered as evil and to confess it with a grin doesn’t make it any better.

Where is the evidence? 

The evidence of God is everywhere. The Bible says that, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard” (Psalms 19:1-3). The evidence for infinite power and wisdom of God is overwhelming in all creation. And the evidence of God’s holiness and moral authority is written in our own conscience. The laws of God are written in the heart of every man and his own conscience bears witness to it (Romans 2:15).

There is nothing under the sun which can satisfy the heart of one man. But the desire for satisfaction lies in every heart. That is an evidence that, we are not created for ourselves and this world but for God, and in Him alone we will find satisfaction . Self- condemnation in the conscience of the unrighteous man, is an evidence that all his self- justification will not work when He will be judged by God. In whichever direction we go, the evidences are unmistakable. These evidences appear to be imaginary to many people. But the more anyone applies his mind to these evidences, he finds them to be very real, as real as anything that he perceives through his eyes. The problem is that these evidences are not attended to by our physical senses but mental faculties.

As we stated earlier, an evidence must be attended to and perceived and understood. A man who ignores such evidences without paying due attention to them, is morally accountable for his ignorance. However, if any person approaches God in sincerity, more evidence is presented to him because it is the will of God that all may come to the knowledge of His salvation.

I think that it is a great fraud that we are not taught how to or how not to pay our taxes in school. It must be a compulsory subject for all. I believe it is left out intentionally, and that too not with good intentions. However compared to it, it is inhuman that mental science is not even mentioned in schools. Don’t confuse it with moral science, in which they taught us the stories about best friends and thirsty crows. Mental science and moral science are two different subjects with their own domains. However, understanding of the former is very helpful in the understanding of the later. All of us have a great mind which God has given us. But all of us don’t know how it works. It is a great darkness and a most subtle work of the devil, to have us so engrossed in our emotions that we forget that we ought to think and understand things correctly. Most of us don’t know that our minds operate according to its own laws.

The most obvious and most important fact about the working of our mind, is the dependence of attention upon the will. In other words, what we attend to, is directly under the control of our will. We are all aware of it, but most of us never thought about it in such clear terms. We are all conscious of our ability to command our attention from one topic to another, as we choose. Surely there are objects which force themselves upon our attention, but even in such cases we are able to turn our attention from them.

Now this ability, this great ability is foundational to our moral responsibility towards God, concerning our understanding, ignorance, opinions and beliefs.

How does our will affect our understanding and beliefs? Jesus Christ did many miracles which His adversaries could not deny. They never tried to do deny them. But instead they closed their eyes to the implications of His miracles and teachings. They blinded themselves by deciding that they are not going to believe in Him, whatsoever evidence might be presented to them. That they are not even going to look at those evidences. The Bible says that, “Faith comes by hearing”. In the case of Thomas, faith came by seeing. It has been already stated that it is impossible to believe without evidence.

However, simple presence of evidence is never sufficient. It must be heard, it must be seen, it must be attended to. The evidence must be perceived, which might never take place, unless the evidence is attended to. The final act of belief might be involuntary. But the acts before this final step require that the evidence presented must be given due attention.

I believed because, Jesus Christ came next to me and revealed Himself clearly to my mind. I had no doubt and I believed without any effort. But before that happened, I had accepted my moral accountability to God and His moral authority over myself. I repented and cried unto God and by the grace of God, I did not resist His working in my heart. As I believed in the evidence presented to my mind, more evidence was perceived. I realized that God has forgiven my sins and I began to have fellowship with Jesus Christ, through whom I have power over sins. I saw clearly that, I received a new life through the death Jesus Christ on the cross and that this new life belongs to Him.

Not falling from faith.

The Israelites were in bondage in Egypt for more than 400 years. They had forgotten the God of their fathers practically. However, God had promised Abraham, that he would not forsake his children. God remembered them and sent Moses to bring them out from under the slavery of the Egyptians. The Egyptians refused to let them go. God showed them great evidences of His power, and forced the Egyptians to free them. The Israelites believed in God. There was none in Israel who did not believe in God at that point of time. However, after 40 years only two faithful people remained, out of all those who came out of the land of Egypt.

The story of their backsliding is provided with all the necessary details. First they believed in God, and they were thankful. They rejoiced in the freedom which God had brought them into. Their mind was full of gratitude and faith. But after sometime they backslid, when their minds were turned aside by their desires and lusts. Whatever our minds are full of, is reflected in our moral character. Our mind and morality go together.

They had seen all the evidence that they could have imagined, but after some time they neglected it. Once they neglected the evidence that God had shown them, it was very easy and in fact natural for them to fall back to their older ways. The Bible says, “Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: “Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the

garlic” (Numbers 11:4-6). They murmured, committed idolatry and tempted God with fornication and adultery. They became unrighteous and corrupt.

Therefore, it has to be remembered by the Christian, that as long as he looks at Jesus Christ by faith, he is invincible. He will neither falter nor fail. He shall not even be moved by the many temptations. But as soon as he turns away, his fall is inevitable. “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Therefore a Christian must fix his attention on the things above and continue in the conviction of their great and eternal reality. He must not ignore the greater moral responsibility which is his, because he has already become aware of the reality of God and His nature. From now on, he must humble himself to the great truths which have dawned upon him and he should not let them slip away. He should mediate upon the

Word of God, which is the eternal truth. In proportion to his attention, his understanding of godly things will increase. He will come to know the ways of God and understand the mind of God. When he does so, great spiritual realities will be revealed to him, according to the divine principle, “Whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him”(Matthew 13:12). However, if his attention is focused on the things of this world, naturally he will be captivated by them and find them more real and he will be entangled by them.

Peter walked on the water as long as he was looking at Jesus, but when his eyes were turned away, he feared and began to sink. Neglect of evidence and faith always comes first for a Christian and then only he falls. The Bible says, “Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward; how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation.” (Hebrews 2:1-3). Let us continue steadfast, in faith in Jesus Christ.

Amen!

About the Author: Atul Kumar is a Christian. Witness for Jesus Christ and His immense power to transform lives. Ph.D. in Cancer biology. Interested in Philosophy and Psychology.