Have you ever questioned your faith? I know I have, many times. Those times when you are just not sure that what you have based your life on is true. Now lets make one thing clear, we all put our faith in something we believe will produce in us or for us the life we desire. For some people that faith is in fame, fortune, power, prestige, pleasure or self. For others their faith is in a transcendent God, like Christians whose faith is in Jesus Christ (Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6). Which ever is true for you, it required a "leap of faith" for you to fully trust in that which you believe will bring the most satisfaction to your life. And when that thing you put your faith in failed, you were left questioning your faith.
The true test of what you put your faith in is what did you put your faith in after the time of doubt. Did you put your faith in something new, or did the doubt and questions and exploration of faith strengthen and renew your beliefs.
The Gospel of Luke records a conversation Jesus had with a lawyer(Luke 10:25-37) which started by the lawyer asking, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" In other words, "What life should I live to possess what matters the most? What should I put my faith in?" So Jesus asks him, "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?" or in other words, "What is your faith in now? What is the guiding principle of your life?" The lawyer responds with the guiding principle that he was taught ever since he was a little boy, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and, love your neighbor as yourself." Jesus says that is the answer, if you do that you will have what you are looking for. But the lawyer has one more question, "Who is my neighbour?" Jesus responds by telling the story of the Good Samaritan and ends by saying, "Go and do likewise."
Here is what I get from this encounter. The lawyer is there listening to Jesus and asks a question to test him. He wanted to understand if what Jesus believed was the same as what he believed. I think he might have been pleasantly surprised with Jesus' answer that loving God and your neighbour was the right answer. But I think he was not expecting Jesus to say, "Go do it." Faith, especially if we are taught a certain belief system from a young age, can sometimes become a "head knowledge" instead of an "action" experience. We "know" that this is how we should live but we may never see our faith in action. I can imagine the lawyer pondering this..."So my faith tells me I need to love God and love my neighbour; I know how to love God - go to temple, say prayers, read the Torah, but how do I love my neighbour? A better question is who is my neighbour?" After telling the lawyer the good Samaritan story Jesus again says, "Go and do this."
The lawyer, whether he knew it or not, was exploring his faith. There was a disconnection between what he believed and what he was doing and Jesus understood that. Jesus showed him, through the story, that he was just like the two "religious guys" in the story because those guys also believed that they should "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and, love your neighbor as yourself." But they didn't live out their beliefs. At the end of his faith exploration, the lawyer would have been faced with decision of "What do I do now?" We don't know what he did in the end because the story stops there and we are left wondering what happened to the lawyer. Maybe we are supposed to ask, "What would I have done if I was in the lawyer's shoes?"
The lawyer's life goal was based on his desire to "have eternal life" and he followed a guiding set of principles that he thought would help him achieve that goal. At the end of his faith exploration he discovers that he is missing an important component in his faith to ultimately achieve his goal of eternal life - that missing piece was action.
If you find yourself exploring faith you need to ask, "Am I doing what I believe?" If you don't think the Christian faith is living up to your expectations, look and see if you are actually "living" your faith. The Christian faith is not only about hearing and knowing but DOING. When you read the Gospels, Jesus is always sending his disciples out to do something because Jesus knows that mission can not be done by always sitting behind closed doors.
Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like. James 1:22-23 (The Message)
Blessings.
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