Blind Faith part 3
I'm going to kind of squint my eyes a little bit to make this work. Come on the journey with me. I could only find one Bible verse with the words "blind" and "faith" and it is in the Message Bible. Hebrews 11:27, "By an act of faith, he turned his heel on Egypt, indifferent to the king's blind rage. He had his eye on the One no eye can see, and kept right on going." There was a blind rage, but there was an act of faith. A decision of faith. Choosing to keep one's eyes on the One no eye can see. Continuing on. Walking by faith. Which means walking. Forward. Onward. Upward and God-ward. Letting your heart lead the way. I always come back to the verse, well, I'll just quote it. "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" (Psalm 119:105). The Word (which is Jesus, which is love) shows us where to go. The Holy Spirit leads us and guides us. He directs us and protects us. We have faith in God because He has proven Himself faithful. We trust Him because He has proven Himself trustworthy. Faith is sitting on a chair, because you believe it will support you. If you see a rickety chair... you might not sit down. It isn't about hoping against hope that the chair will hold you. It's about having confidence. And we don't have a rickety God. We have a God in whom we can trust no matter what else is going on. It doesn't matter if a king has a blind rage. It matters that we have a loving King of kings. It doesn't matter how big the storm is. It matters how big our God is. That's why God shows Himself at every opportunity. Every time we invite Him in He shows up. Because He's already there! How do we keep our eye on the One no eye can see? By letting Him who is always there BE there. By letting love rule and reign in our lives. By having faith in God. By believing in love. Love is the solution to the problem. And, listen, we have to be careful with that, in a sense. Because love comes in all shapes and sizes. Your idea of what a situation needs might not be the only solution. Your idea of what love is might not be what someone else needs. Love takes wisdom. Understanding. Relationship. Building bonds and connections with people so that you can know HOW to love THEM the way THEY need to be loved. Not everybody expresses love in the same ways and not everybody receives love in the same ways. That's why I say love is NOT blind. It sees clearly. You have to have an understanding of someone in order to love them. Take me for example: I'm a chocolate guy. If you offer me chocolate... I'm going to take it. And I'll probably see that as an expression of love. But there are some people out there who don't like chocolate. Or who like it, but don't want to eat it. Or whatever. So they might not see a gift of chocolate the same way. We need to be sensitive about that. We need to learn about each other. What works for someone, and what doesn't. We need to SEE each other. Love is not blind. And neither is faith. When we see God for who He really is, it's hard NOT to have faith in Him. When He proves how trustworthy He is it's hard NOT to trust Him. Because He has--He IS--everything we need. And He has given Himself to us. We don't just need Him... we have Him!