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Mother Teresa's Letters
Sept 21, 2007, Wausau, Wi —
As a young
Christian, I struggled with trying to understand what faith was. When I would hear pastors preached on the
subject, I was often left even more confused. I was frequently told that faith
was an otherworldly gift of God which was the basis not only for our salvation,
but for our daily walk with God. Faith and doubt were often portrayed as
opposites; you either had one or the other. This common view was why so many
were the puzzled at Mother Teresa’s letters.
While such
views of faith seemed to satisfy, and even encourage, those around me, they
left me still wondering; exactly what is this otherworldly gift? How did I know
I had it? When doubts arose, was that a sign of sin? I seemed to have a lot of
questions, but not many answers.
Like many
of my more troubling questions, the ultimate answer came, not by seeking out
“better teachers” but by spending time with God, thought prayer and the study
of His word.
The key for
me came with the realization that, even though they are related, and in fact are
often used synonymously, faith and belief are not the same thing. After all, the demons believe in God, but are
not saved. (James 2:19) It is not our
belief in God, Jesus Christ, or even his death burial and resurrection to
cleanse us from our sins that saves us.
It is our faith in these that saves us. In fact, simply believing is
what James refers to as a “dead faith.” (James 2:17)
But while
an important realization, this was still only telling me what Faith was not, in
this case, that it was not belief. It still did not tell me what it was. The
answer was to be found in Hebrews Chapter 11, the chapter on faith. I had heard many sermons on this, but most
focused on the first verse where faith is defined as “being sure of what we
hope for, and certain of what we do not see.”
Taken out
of context, this would seem to link faith and belief, but rest of the chapter
is a listing of examples of the faithful having faith. These examples flesh out
the meaning of the faith and show us not only exactly what it is, but how we
can have it.
Take the
example of Noah, “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy
fear built an ark to save his family.” (Heb 11:7) Note the key focus of this example of faith,
is not that Noah believed without a doubt that the flood would come but that he
built the Ark. In fact almost all the
examples in this chapter follow the literally formula of by faith, someone did
something. Throughout the chapter the
focus is what they did, not on what they thought.
This is
faith. It is the confidence, or trust,
we have in our beliefs that leads us to act upon them. The core of faith is not
belief, it is trust. We may intellectually
believe that God exists, or even that he sent his Son to die for us on the
cross as a payment for our sins, but we have faith when we trust in this enough
to change the way we live our lives. If
we really have faith, we will serve God, for as James says, “Faith by itself,
if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” (James 2:17)
To be clear
this is not salvation base on works. Works
do not result in salvation. Faith results in salvation, and a true saving faith
will have an effect on how we live. How could to be otherwise? Can someone really trust in God and really
trust what he says, and yet not let it affecting anything they do? Can someone really trust in Christ’s crucifixion
as a payment for their sins without any impact in their life? I do not think it
is possible.
When faith
is understood in the context of trust that leads to action, instead of belief,
one can easily see that there is no contradiction in the way that Mother Teresa
led her life, even though she struggled with doubt. In fact, her doubts only further testify to
her faith. It is easy to have faith in
things about which you are certain. Those
who have flown many times may not give getting on a plane a second thought. Having
faith that the plane will not crash is easy. But for those with doubts, to have
the faith to get on the plane can be a struggle. So it is a testimony to Mother Teresa’s
faith, that despite her doubts, she still had the faith to lead a life of
service.
See www.consider.org for additional information.
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