The Mystery of Faith

What is this faith that people such as myself have; this idea of believing in something that although I cannot fully comprehend it or reach out and touch it or see His physical manifestation, I still know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ is who He says He is, and did what He tells all of history He has done? Sure, it is belief - but even the Bible tells us that demons acknowledge Christ's existence and identity:

¹⁹ You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

-----James 2:19, ESV

My faith forces me to shudder as well, when I think about the awesome power and might of God, our Creator. Jesus is one of the three persons of God; He is the Son. Yet He has always been there; The Gospel of John states, "1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men" (John 1:1-4, ESV).

I have the knowledge from text that was written millennia ago. The demons have even more acquaintance than that, I am sure, for judging from John's own words, as it says 'all things were made through Him.' But what is the ingredient here, that sets actual faith in motion? What is the mysterious trigger - the strange almost indescribable driving force that decides for a person, "I believe that with all my heart?"

Have you ever thought about it? Is it our conscience? The very thing that makes us sentient beings? The Descartes-like notion, that makes our reality real, because we are aware and therefore think it is real; can one even stop to ponder such deep mind-bending subject matter? But it has to be more than just our thoughts, right? Faith, when on very solid ground, is unshakeable, or can be. I have seen it before. I know people whose faith could 'move mountains' as Jesus so aptly describes in the Gospel of Matthew. Their conviction of the Truth of Christ was such that nothing in this world could convince them of anything else; I long to have faith that strong. My wife might even tell other people that she thinks I have that kind of faith sometimes. But I confess, sometimes my faith has been shaken. Tragedy will sometimes do that; but it is those times that my faith was shaken that God gave me even more of a reason to believe! Funny how that works.

Reason and belief combined - maybe that is the kicker. I know that my faith that I do have in the Truth of Christ did not just come to me in a vacuum. I have reasoned everything out about the matters of my faith. Everything in which I hold strong belief, I arrived to the decision to believe such things by God's gift of Reason. Ah, but it is more than that as well, for you might believe, and maybe reasoned to believe it - but you also had to make a decision! I have thought about this because I have seen how the inner cogs of young people turn in their heads about such things. I figured, I need be prepared to try to explain something about all of this mind-heart-exploration, should some of the deep thinkers in upcoming younger generations ever ask.

I have come to a two-part conclusion. The first is that anyone can have basic faith in something, and arrive to it the same way I described combined aspects of knowledge earlier; one simply combines their ability to reason with their choices of what to believe. That combination can at least give one guidance to understanding most knowledge, and basic facts. But that decision to believe something as cosmically essential as salvation through Jesus Christ? That is something different entirely.

Truth be told (and known), I chose the strange other-worldly A.I. image for this post, because I think it symbolizes much of the mystery of what we know as the Holy Spirit. You see, this is the missing ingredient. This cosmic force, the third person of the Holy Trinity, is far beyond our absolute understanding. It is a wonderful mystery, yet I truly believe He is that 'it' factor that affects the minds and hearts of every single believer, just the way the Bible tells us He does. Consider for just a moment, the events in Acts, Ch. 2.

2 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. ² And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³ And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. ⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

-----Acts 2:1-4, ESV

Perhaps you have not felt or observed something so supernatural as this in a physically manifested display. But - have you felt it? Read the passage again. Now connect that day to the facts we know about the history of Christianity. Christianity, as of today, is still the single largest faith in the history of the world. Take away this mysterious force we call the Holy Spirit on that day, and Christianity dies just like the false messiahs that told lies in Jesus's day. Unless of course, God just makes it happen another way, but I digress. Are you catching on yet?

I do not claim to have all the answers. But I do know one answer that has served me well most of my life. I can tell you that had I not experienced some strange pull towards the front of a chapel on a middle school youth retreat when I was 12 years old, I wouldn't have put reason and belief together to make the decision I did that day. The Holy Spirit was present; His mysterious power to convict my heart shook me; it filled my chest with this overwhelming sensation that was beyond my control. I couldn't see Him. I even looked around expecting to see fiery spirit from everyone else in the room, the way my heart felt from the inspirational words of one speaker named Bill Jones that day. I had a bad temper growing up. In middle school, I was a decent enough kid, but if someone said a harsh word that I thought was attacking my very character, or if someone wanted to physically horse around when I wanted no part in it - my fuse would run its course, and I would explode into a raging little juvenile monster. I hated myself for it. I had taken it out on best friends. I had gotten suspended from school because of it. And yet when the Reverend Jones said that Jesus would take me just as I am, no matter how bad I had messed up; that God loved me no matter what, I could simply ask Him to come into my life, because I believed He gave up His life on the cross for an insignificant little soul like me - the mysterious force that welled up within me lifted me up out of my seat, on jittery legs, and I responded to an altar call given by that same pastor. Oh the irony; I walked down to the front of the chapel at Bonclarken, in Flat Rock, NC that day on the same shaky legs that usually only shook that way when I was standing in a really high place. It is why I never liked heights; my legs got this crazy shaky feeling that I could not control, going back to when I was around 7 years old. Perhaps the reverent fear of God is what shook my legs during that altar call.

Nevertheless, I still made it down to the front, hit my knees next to the pastor himself, and he knelt down and prayed with me. The sensation is inexplicable from a physiological standpoint, as far as any physical thing in the room that affected my body. Was it just the power of my mind? Perhaps - but could the emotional impact of acceptance from the words that Bill Jones said have caused that strong of a physical reaction? I just could not make that make sense in my mind; not at 12 years old, and not now.

No - it was the power of the Holy Spirit that helped me reason through the facts at hand. My parents raised me in the ARP church in Greenville; my dad made sure to lead our family the way a Godly father is supposed to, at least the best way he knew how, considering he grew up without a dad. I had all the head knowledge about the general story of Jesus, and what happened to him on the cross - and the most important part of his story, and how He resurrected from the dead three days later. But this same mysterious force that shook my knees and feet while I made my way down the aisle, was the same mysterious force that helped me put reason and belief altogether when I embraced the fact that Jesus could accept a raging temperamental little monster like me - that convicted me to accept that righteous Truth of Christ in return. It wasn't just the fact that I believed. I knew. And I grew in my faith, from that day forward.

Have you thought about faith? Do you know your purpose here on Earth? Do you know that Christ loves you, and will accept you - not just accept you, but loves you and always has loved you, no matter what you have done? Are you feeling hopeless right now? I am here to tell anyone out there that reads this - THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE. Jesus Christ is our purpose. If you think you're just here for no reason - you're wrong! We are all here to tell His story. And His story is OUR STORY. But we have to embrace such an idea. The one mysterious part in all of this that is not such a mystery to me anymore, is that the mysterious force of the Holy Spirit, the convicting force that pulls that ultimate trigger on true Faith, will convict you, too, if you but use your God-given ability to reason, and choose to ACCEPT His presence in your life.

And when you do decide that perhaps there is something to this strange mystery we call faith, and that maybe it is worth a try to discover more... maybe when you decide to accept the Holy Spirit, He can fill you up and cause strange sensation with your heart...or mind...or wobbly knees. But I will go ahead and warn you, despite all the potential hope and purpose you will find, you better hold on. Because this mystery of faith, once embraced, will be one heck of a ride. I'm still on this journey...still telling my story...and I invite anyone out there to do the same.

In Christ,

Jason E. Fort