Blind Faith part 1
This is one of those ironic titles to get you to think about the term. Because I don't believe there is any such thing as "blind" faith. I believe faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith is knowing that your heavenly Father has your back because He's been there for you every single time. Look at 1 John 1:1, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life." That, to me, is pretty much it. Faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word (which is Jesus, which is love) of God. We have heard it, seen it, handled it. Experienced it. That's how we know it's real. I don't know how, or why, but it seems like we've turned faith into hope. "I have faith that God will do something." When we really mean we hope God will do something. And, listen, faith that God will come through for us is a good thing. But it's not hoping He will come through for us. It's knowing that He will. Because He always has. The SUBSTANCE of things hoped for. "I hope I win a million dollars" is very different from, "My God shall supply all your need, according to His riches in glory." One is a pipe dream. The other is a certainty. But to bring it back around to my point for this Rant series: Faith is not blind. I once heard a preacher say, "Faith is not a blind leap in the dark, it's a blind leap in the light!" Which I thought was a pretty good turn of phrase. But in reality it's simply walking in the light because you can see where you're going. Walking by faith isn't closing your eyes and hoping everything will work out. It isn't burying your head in the sand and living on a wing and a prayer. It's letting the Word of God (again, Jesus... love) be a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path. Letting your heart guide you. Letting love lead the way. Because Mark 11:22 says, "And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God." Having faith in God is having faith in love. Because God IS love. That's not just what He does, that's who He is. There's such a big difference between sticking your head in the sand and having faith in love. One tries to deny what's going on. Ignore it and hope things will magically work themselves out. The other injects what is needed into every situation. Every cloud has a silver lining, right? That's love. That's all things working for good. They may not all look good, or feel good, but they are working for good. A big part of having faith is knowing and believing that everything will work out. Again, not ignoring what's happening... but learning and growing by going through what's happening. Letting what's inside you (the love of God) come out. Especially when you--or whoever you're in contact with--needs it most. They say love is blind (and I think I'm going to hit this idea hard tomorrow) but really love sees clearly. Love doesn't ignore what it going on. Love simply gives what is needed so that what is going on can be what is best for everybody. Faith... hope... and love, right? But not blind faith. Not pipe dream hope. Not selfish love. God gave us everything we need. We have it. We can use it. We can walk by faith and not by sight, by walking in love!