I’m sitting here is my room, I just put down the book, The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel. I’m almost done with it. It makes me think. I’ve been a Christian for about 6 months now. I have my doubts even then. Seems kind of weird. I had more doubts about God after I was saved than before. Perhaps they were always there, but decided to break to the surface after wards.
I just finished the chapter on faith yesterday. It’s started to open my mind about what faith really is. I’m still far from understanding. I don’t think it’s this idea of believing in something we don’t see. Faith is the “evidence” of things NOT seen. I have faith that my computer will turn on. I don’t know the details of how, I just have faith when I press that button, it’s going to turn on. However, I can’t know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it will happen. For all I know it’s not going to work this time. In his book it mentions that faith without doubt, is not faith. Faith, is when it can look straight into Doubt’s “eye” and stare it down.
I think that in part, faith is an action in which we test or prove that God really is there. It seems circular, but you must believe first before your faith grows stronger. You must first prove that your faith holds true. Thomas told Jesus that he believed and that he needed help with his unbelief.
It’s like a sales men that comes to your door and tries to sell you a product. You either have faith in his product or you don’t. Let’s say you decide to have faith in his product even though you’ve never seen it in action. You’ve now taken your first step of faith. But in order to strengthen your faith, you must first test to see if it works. If it does, than your faith is strengthened. If it doesn’t, your faith is shattered. In his book he makes reference to when King David said, “Taste, and see that the Lord is good.” You can believe in a God. You can believe in Jesus. Test His Word. He will be proved every single time.
One of the best things I ever came to realize is that my Salvation is not based on feeling. Feelings are great and God given. They are what make us human. But, no matter how I feel today, I can have faith in Jesus, who has forgiven my sins. This realization has helped in my struggle with doubts. I’ve learned that God doesn’t work much through my feelings. He simply opens up doors. And, I want to follow Him through those doors. It’s easy to explain away how God has worked in my life. If I were to write down everything that God has done for me in just the last six months, I think I would realize (and I do realize) what an awesome God that I serve.
I haven’t made it yet. I have so much to learn. I still struggle. But as a fellow Christian, I know God has great things for us.
