Faith in Jesus

Jesus's mealtime conversation during his last supper included some bitter news for his disciples.  "Where I am going, you cannot come."  (John 13:33)  The one they thought would set up shop on earth as a new Davidic king in Israel was breaking up camp and leaving.  He told them, "You know the way to the place where I am going." (14:4)

Thomas, the famous doubter, blurted out, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" (v. 5)

In answer Jesus gave his famous proclamation: "I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you really knew me, you would know the Father as well.  From now on, you do know him and have seen him."  (vv. 6-7)

Philip said in his confusion what many cynical skeptics would say now, "Show us the Father and that will be enough for us."  (v. 8)

Now Jesus expands.  Philip does not take Jesus explanation in verse 7 at face value.  He wants more.  Fortunately Jesus doesn't just slap him and say, "Believe more!"  He explained to Philip and us how we can come to see the Father.

His questions to Philip were biting, however.  "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? . . .  How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?  Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?"  (vv. 9, 10)  He explained that Philip doesn't really know him.  Unfortunately, I think we don't do a lot better than Philip.

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Jesus uses three expressions to explain his relationship with the Father.  "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father."  (v. 9)  Jesus is the face of God.  "I am in the Father and the Father is in me."  (v. 10)  Jesus shares a life, an existence with God.  "The words I say to you are not just my own.  Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing the work."  (v. 10)  Jesus has the teaching of God.

This is the foundation of our faith.  "Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me."  On this everything rests.  This is not merely part of an understanding about Trinitarian belief, it is about the very nature of God.  Jesus was God-in-the-flesh (God incarnate) or he wasn't.  What Jesus said, what he did, and how he was were all as God would (and did) do as a person.

So what's the big deal?  It's the difference between Jesus healing and helping as a nice guy or Jesus healing and helping as the expression of what God did, does, and always will do.  It's the difference between Jesus having some nice or helpful words and Jesus speaking words that are life, truth, and the very bread of human existence.  It's the difference between Jesus being a pitiful martyr or Jesus drawing the whole world to himself as a deliverer from death and evil, a savior from the corruption of sin, and the ultimate example of where each person must go to find God.

Disbelief and skepticism about this kind of trust and belief in Jesus are the water we swim in.  But, what if the face of Jesus is the face of God?  How might we feel toward him?  How might we relate to him?

What if Jesus shared a life with God when he was on earth?  Could we imagine working side-by-side with God, so that we might say, "It is [Jesus], living in me, doing the work"?  How might we walk through our days?  How might we understand our purpose?

What if Jesus had the teaching of God?  Perhaps he might have know just what we needed to hear to live the life God would love and that we would love as well?  Perhaps each of his words as present in the created order and in the Bible would bring life, love, peace, and joy?  Might he be the Master Teacher of all time?

Although lack of faith may be most noticeable through a lack of confidence, its source comes more from lack of knowledge.  Understanding and accepting God's nature will bring about confidence.  Jesus expanded his teaching to Philip because Philip lacked understanding.  Where Philip's (and our) understanding fail, he gives grace and power to grasp what we need to know.  Faith stretches out beyond knowledge, but also pulls knowledge along.  Greater faith yields greater knowledge and, to some degree, greater knowledge yields greater faith.

As I live in faith and trust of God, I learn more about him.  As I learn more about God and from God, I find faith easier to exercise.  Jesus explains to Philip on this principle, I believe.  In the end, it challenges me to think a bit harder about what I believe and what I don't believe and what Jesus taught me to believe most of all.  I find that from faith informed by knowledge, confidence comes.

Lord, let me see your face.  Let me see the life you want me to live.  Let me come to know your teaching more deeply.  Let me do this in your name, by faith in you informed by knowing you, and byu loving you.  Amen.

Doubt as Disbelief

The one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (James 1:6-8)

Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. (Romans 14:23)

FAITH here is understood, not as a profession of something you do not believe, but as belief, trust, reliance upon something. You believe in A, or that P, if and to the degree that you are ready to act with reliance upon A or as if P were the case. We always "live up to" (or "down to": really, right at) our beliefs. (The Faith of Unbelief, Dallas Willard)

When I do things while doubting them, I think I sin. I am thinking of doubt not as mere uncertainty, but mixed with skepticism. To doubt something is not merely to say, "I don't know," but to say, "I suspect it's not so." I must work to relieve my doubts before I go about my practice, otherwise I find my efforts to be hindered and biased. Doubt indicates some level of distrust. It indicates that my will is not settled, but divided.

James pictures doubt like a wave in a storm. It is blown here and there. There is a lack of control. The person in doubt “wavers.” Living in doubt is like living on a boat with no sails or oars. It is a life not only without direction, but without the means of steering.

Another picture is that of a person with two minds. He (they?) possesses two sets of thoughts, feelings, and beliefs and goes back and forth between them. The stumbling between the two minds makes him unstable, staggering and unable to be steady in anything in his life. A poignant picture of this is split personalities and neuroses.

Paul indicates that a person who doubts proceeds with something other than faith, trust, and confidence. We must live by trust if we are to live at all. The consequence is of not living by this trust is to steer completely out of God’s desire for us and away from God himself. I cannot walk with God and distrust him as well.

So doubt is characterized with wavering, instability, and missing out on God. Trusting God (not just trusting something about him) brings certainty, stability, and relationship with him. When my relationship with God is well, doubt does not remain in my mind.

Using Dallas Willard’s description of faith, I find that doubt is not being ready to act with reliance on or trust in someone or something. Doubt is hesitation that comes from divided loyalty. “No one can serve two masters,” Jesus says (Matthew 6:24). Trying to do so brings doubt.

Like anger, doubt is part of the human condition. Nothing is wrong with either in themselves. But when a person harbors anger, it becomes rage or contempt and becomes sin. Similarly, when I hold on to doubts without addressing them, they bring the life that James writes about, one that is wavering and unstable and unable to receive anything from God.

God does not intend for me to live in doubt; he wants me to live in trust and confidence. It is not that God doesn’t want me to ask questions. I am told to ask. In doubt, however, the questions become accusations and God becomes silent for the most part. It is not so much that he won’t answer, but that I can’t hear him.

As my trust and confidence in God grows, I encounter doubts. They come as assumptions that have to be torn down and thoughts and feelings that have to be replaced (2 Corinthians 10:3-6). I find they cannot be safely ignored, but some battles go on for quite a while.

Lord, I see how doubt can identify areas of distrust in my life. I do not want to let them remain, poisoning my life in you and with you. Conquer these places that stand against you. You are my help and shield. Amen.