By Knowledge or By Faith… How Do You Explain It?

I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine a few days ago. She always makes me laugh so hard and i really like her!

She’s not Christian; she doesn’t believe Jesus is the messiah.  So somewhere in our conversation the issue of religion came up and we were talking about God and our different beliefs and religious views – not arguing or disputing or anything like that – just talking. I was telling her about our relationship with God as Christians; how he’s like a friend we can have actual conversations with, how we listen to Him and talk to Him too. She got really surprised and intrigued by the idea that we can hear God. She really couldn’t believe it was possible to hear God – she couldn’t wrap her mind around it. So she asked me how it’s possible to hear him talk to you and how you can be certain it’s really God talking. No matter how much i tried to explain to her, she just couldn’t get it. It wasn’t comprehensible or logical and so as far as she was concerned, it was impossible! Truth is even us Christians have these doubts and questions sometimes in our minds.

So when I thought about it, I realized there’s really no way to understand it or to explain it in logical human reasoning! There’s no way to understand how it is possible that the Holy Spirit lives inside of us, there’s no way to understand the fact that there’s a God in heaven and that He is a 3-in-1 God! There’s no way to understand that the blood of Jesus washes away our sins…. There’s just no way for the human brain to understand it… It has to be logical, comprehensive. It has to make sense!

Truth is, it is incomprehensible, illogical…maybe even outrageous. It really doesn’t make much sense and we cannot understand it. So how do you explain it?

Faith explains it all!

It is by Faith that we believe in Jesus, it is by faith that we know that His blood washed away our sins, it is by Faith that we are certain we hear God talk to us and that His Spirit lives in us. It is all by Faith.  Without Faith, there really is no Christianity.

It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him (Hebrews 11:6 MSG).

Faith is the foundation of our hopes, our beliefs, our convictions.  It is confidence in what we hope for, and assurance about what we cannot see (Heb 11:1 NIV). Faith doesn’t need to understand – it believes and is persuaded beyond all doubt and uncertainty.

So there wasn’t any way I could get my friend to understand that I can hear God talk to me. She didn’t believe it, so I couldn’t explain it. It is a mystery and even though we cannot comprehend it we have a deep conviction that it is true. We have faith!

So is it foolish or stupid to have faith and believe in something you cannot understand or comprehend?  When I told my friend that I know for sure without any doubt that God speaks to me, she gave me this look and I could tell what was going through her mind. She was probably thinking how stupid I could be to actually believe God speaks to me. Many people actually look upon Christians as mindless brainwashed followers of an illusive teaching… but are they?

The thing about faith is even though it’s intangible and invisible, its results are very tangible, visible and even measurable! It is like the wind. Even though we cannot see the wind, we can see the effects of the wind, we can see the dust stir up and the trees bend to its force. We cannot understand how the Spirit of God resides in us, but we can see His effects upon us – in the transformation that occurs in us after we receive Him. Our characters are transformed; people get off dangerous and destructive addictions, broken relationships are restored, harmful habits are broken, hearts are filled with love, peace and joy. Through faith extraordinary miracles happen, that doctors cannot explain or understand. People accomplish things way beyond their abilities or capabilities that they could never have imagined possible. Faith produces results that are evidence and proof of the existence and might of God.

So how do you explain it? Faith explains it all!

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.” (1Corinthians 13:13a)… and without Faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6a).

Remain Blessed

Apiseh