Faith is a weird thing. We all put faith into different things, and most people think of religious stuff first when they hear that word. Here are three questions for you:
- Do you have faith?
- In what?
- Where does that faith come from?
I remember reading O Me of Little Faith by Jason Boyett. He talks about how he’s never been able to just believe in things, basics of Christianity mostly, as easily as some people he knows. It’s like some people just naturally have better faith than others.
I understand this gap in the levels of faith mostly in Christianity as I’ve seen so many people from diverse backgrounds walk through life with a wide range of doubt. I always believed a little easier than some but was never free of skepticism, especially as I’ve gotten older. So why is it that some of us are so full of belief in God while the rest of us never escape the struggle of significant doubt?
There’s this idea in Romans 12:3 that says “Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.” The key idea is that faith itself may be something we have, but it’s a gift first, something that is given to us by God.
I once heard someone say, “My faith sucks…” Many people, myself included, often feel like we have weak faith or lose it altogether at times. At the same time, the Bible says that God is the “author” of our faith and that faith is not something we produce ourselves. Rather, it’s a gift from God.
So how does that work? If we have weak faith does that mean God gives us that weak faith?
This sounds like one of those miserable cause and effect questions from those standardized tests I always bombed, so the more I think about this the more I feel like a rhinoceros is trying to punch an escape hole through my brain, but it seems like a question important enough to wrestle with.
Consider the question this way: Do some people struggle to believe in a God they love because that God hasn’t given them as much faith as others?
Looking at this whole section of Romans, it sounds like our very faith is like the individual gifts we’re given. We can do some things better than others like how I’m better at teaching than singing. So maybe some of us are just better at faith while the rest are designed to suck at faith.
In thinking through these questions, I’ve come up with three things I believe to be true:
- Faith can grow or increase, especially based on personal experience which I’ll come back to in a future post.
- God gives us faith as needed. It sounds like God has a giant Faith Pez and can pop out extra doses when things get rough.
- Doubt is okay. Those who doubt first often make a great impact.
Do you struggle to have faith?
Do you believe we all have as much faith as we’re supposed to have?
28 replies on “Did God Give You Sucky Faith?”
Right now, yes.
Ideally, we should but most of us don’t. Most of the time when faith wavers it depends on ‘when life happens’. When life happens we have a choice – trust God & have a little more faith or throw a pity party. In the midst of both, God is doing something we don’t understand … or see. Hence, faith. Live by faith, not by sight.
I’m having a hard time with faith right now.
Great post. I need to visit here more often.
Thanks for those thoughts. Sometimes when I have almost zero faith in what’s going on, I feel like I should just say that I do in hopes that my belief will catch up to my words. Does that make sense? Do we get faith by pretending to have it? Like, if we believe enough to know it can work then maybe God will give us something additional.
Yes, it makes sense and it’s where I’m finding myself lately. I figure if I fake it hard and long enough that the reward will be far greater than this massive pile of funk I find myself in.
I’m not fake at heart, but I won’t lie and say my faith is 100% every day of the week. God does things I don’t understand, things I can’t wrap my head around. I’m confused right now.
But maybe that’s the point of faith – God will only give us what He knows we can handle (Cliche, I know ..), but I believe that. I just wish He’d lighten the blows.
Just know you’re not alone in how you feel.
You know, that’s exactly what I was going to say to you. Know that you’re not alone. Life doesn’t get any easier whether we believe in God or not. Sounds like you and I will take our chances with slippery faith which is at least some kind of anchor in the midst of a storm. Without that, we have nothing to ground ourselves with when things get rough.
Interesting conversation, guys. Faith is one of those concepts that can be hard for me to wrap my mind around, and sometimes I think I’m talking about faith, when I’m really talking about something else. So I looked it up: confidence or trust in a person or thing, belief that is not based on proof.
I think that my faith in God doesn’t really waiver – no matter what is happening, I have faith that God can do all things. What I struggle with, I think, is doubt that he will do “all things”, or in other words, what I want him to do. But InciteFaith is right, God works on his own timetable, doing things we can’t yet understand.
I don’t know if I’m talking about the same things you are, though. I’ve certainly had moments when I felt “almost zero faith in what’s going on”. And in those difficult times, I have equated that with my faith in God. But seen from the outside, from a distance where that pain and heartache can’t touch me, I think that it wasn’t my faith that wavered, it was my strength – my ability to be patient and wait for God. Then again, maybe the distance enables me to lie to myself now – maybe it was my faith that wasn’t strong. This is a difficult thing to grapple with, isn’t it?
Do you believe we all have as much faith as we’re supposed to have? I know people who have no faith, and the idea that God would “give” them no faith seems wrong to me. I can fathom someone turning down that gift, and maybe that’s the bottom line to that question – we can take what God offers us, and we can turn down those gifts, too.
I’m certainly not the guy to handle theological discussions on human free will vs. God’s sovereignty. Certainly it all has something to do with a disconnect between what we hope as opposed to what we see. Faith is one of those mysteries that doesn’t fit into human understanding, so it often frustrates us.
Clay, a great topic. It reminds me of that wonderfully paradoxical passage: “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.” (something like that – in one of the gospels, Mark I think). I think of faith as part of our birthright that God gives us – it’s what helps us transcend the limited world at our fingertips, and get wee little glimpses of something more.
But the level of faith, and the intensity of our awareness of it within ourselves – well, I think there’s a lot of life stuff and early formation that can impede that. I don’t mean to say that WE determine our faith, because it’s undoubtedly a gift from God, but we can do things to nurture it, too.
Also, consider that the struggle for faith gives glory to God. I’ve heard that Mother Theresa was in a constant struggle with her faith, especially near the end of her life. I find that absolutely amazing.
Best,
Kathy
I keep thinking about this post tonight, and came back to give it another look. You make so much sense to me, Kathy, but it also makes me confused. I am constantly filled with doubts and questions, but I don’t generally tie that to my faith in God. Mostly I lack faith in myself, in my ability to be what I “should be”. In times when things are rough for me, my fear and doubt or lack of confidence is self-directed. But I wonder if I’m just deluding myself, because that verse comes up in my head a lot, too.
You’re making me think too Kathy. I love that passage by the way, the guy who asks for help with his unbelief. Certainly our conditions and experiences play a big role in how we view things. How does God act within those circumstances? Who knows. So nothing is ever ultimately realized on this side of the door to eternity. I guess that’s why Mother Theresa said that which I love. It’s like the disciple Thomas. He got a bad rep when I was a kid as if his doubt was a bad thing, but we should all be so discerning in our search.
I believe a lot of it comes down to what we really believe about God. I default to God being the driving force of faith. He gives us the faith to believe, but it is a muscle to exercise. So the more we exercise our faith, the easief it gets. That doesn’t mean we have perfect faith. In fact, we might see more holes in our faith the stronger it gets.
Faith as a muscle to exercise. Interesting. I’ll be thinking about that one.
I think a lot depends on how we define faith. In his book “The Fight” John White defines faith as “man’s response to God’s initiative” and, after reading his stuff, I agree with that definition.
White says, “Do not look inside yourself and ask, ‘How much faith do I have?’ Look to God and ask, ‘What is he saying to me? What would he have me do?’ When Jesus praised the great faith of different men and women in the Gospels, he was not praising a mystical inner state. He was usually commenting on a concrete action by which someone responded to him.”
I think we can decide to respond to God’s Word (i.e. “have faith”) but still carry some doubt along with it. And, as White continues, “In time the decision grows into an attitude, an attitude of always being ready to respond positively to God’s Word.”
I did my best to summarize but can’t really do justice to such a big topic in a small comment…the book is well worth the read!
People use phrases like “taking a step of faith” but then I wonder if we are able to take that step without God. But it is about steps because, as you say, we should think about what we’re supposed to do next in each situation.
Great stuff here. I tend toward Calvinism, so I’d say that yes, our faith is a gift from God. He draws us to Himself — we’d never go on our own — and once we are His, we are eternally His. I’d also add that even though we may be eternally justified, that doesn’t mean we’ll always feel that assurance of faith at the same levels. For instance, if I fly on a plane, and I’m phobic about flying (and I am), I am as safe during Hour One as I am during Hours Two through Four in the air. But do I FEEL equally as safe the whole time? No, I struggle during that flight with maintaining my sanity and keeping myself from weeping uncontrollably sometimes (which is why I never take a window seat [snort]).
So, although nothing has changed in terms of the plane staying in the air [my salvation], yet my assurance of safety wobbles and ebbs a little more than I’d like.
And, to continue the analogy, I’ve found that the more I read about the safety of airplanes (over other modes of travel), and the more my engineer husband explains to me how and why planes work, the more I can conquer my phobia. Likewise, the more I read Scripture and pray and consult with others of like mind, the less my faith will wobble and ebb.
But anyway… how ’bout those replacement refs, huh? 😉
I’m glad you brought up the airplane analogy Linda. Been thinking about those experiences we often picture to understand faith and have some thoughts on that coming next week.
I can say I believe, but what are my core convictions? What are the truest, deepest things about me when the fig leaves fall?
For a long time, it was that I was alone, and that life was up to me.
And I was a Christian.
But my faith was a fatherless one.
Those core convictions, laid down in pain, were by God–with the precision of a surgeon–excised like the cancer they were.
I’ve a post about here:
http://randomlychad.com/2012/08/a-purpose-in-the-pain.html
If we think we get our faith from a God it certainly matters who we think that God is.
I’ve read Jason Boyett’s and Rachel Held Evans’s books and it made me wrestle with some tough questions. At the end of the day I don’t really struggle with doubt and find it easy to have faith.
That being said I’m intrigued by theology and philosophical discussions. I don’t think naively believing anything is a healthy strategy. That whole “wise as serpents and innocent as doves” thing, ya know?
I like a lot of Rachel’s stuff but still haven’t got to read one of her books. So little time! Do you have a top pick to recommend KC?
Her 1st book Evolving in Monkey Town is great. http://rachelheldevans.com/monkey-town/
Her 2nd book comes out next month.
Thanks for the tip!
Thought 1: One summer when I was really struggling with my faith, I went through the book of Psalms and underlined the word “Trust” when it applied to trusting in God. The words that follow “trust” are pretty revealing. By the end of the summer, the book was technicolored and I learned an important lesson that I cling to still.
I’m not special.
I’m not going to be the asterisk to God’s perfect track record.
Thought 2: What if faith was like a bright red balloon that doesn’t have the end tied off? The level of air/belief varies but there’s always a residual amount hidden inside. It doesn’t always matter how much you have as much as it matters that you have the balloon.
It’s a whimsical illustration but it helps me process the concept.
“I’m not going to be the asterisk to God’s perfect track record.” <–nice
I really like the idea of focusing on trust and looking at those words. I also like whimsical balloon illustrations but you're trying to get me to understand science to I JUST KNOW IT.
Ha! If only. The math+science part of my brain is missing.
Fantastic post, Clay. The past few weeks I have struggled with the concept of faith and how I seem to have so little while the next person has a lot. It’s almost as if my faith has been reduced to the barest minimum and I’m having to sort of rebuild it with God’s help. I seem to have more doubts than most people or at least it appears that way. I like to write about and verbalize my doubts. My doubts these days have increased and I want to explore more in-depth these doubts so that after careful examination, my doubts can slowly subside. I like what you say here: “Doubt is okay. Those who doubt first often make a great impact.” That indeed gives me hope.
Thanks for this comment Thomas. One of the great lies that hits some of us is that we’re alone, and that can include being alone in our doubts and private struggles. To doubt is human, I say, and expected by God. Those who work through it become flickering lights in the dark as we stumble along the path during those dark nights of doubt and desperation. You’re not alone.
Thanks for your very encouraging words!