“We walk by faith not by sight”
II Corinthians 5:7
If I were to ask you if you are a normal person, chances are you would answer “yes.” Somehow thinking we are normal makes us feel good about ourselves. But is normal really good? If I were to ask you if you live by faith in Jesus Christ, most likely you would answer yes to that question too. But what would you think if I told you that because you live by faith, you are not normal? Faith is not normal for anyone. It is not a natural part of our DNA. It is not something we were born with. Doubt and skepticism is normal for us. Living based on our experiences is normal for us. Living by sight is normal for us. After all, if we can see it we can easily believe it. But faith? Not so normal!
If we live our lives based on “normal things,” we will find ourselves at some point walking through a door of discouragement, depression, and despair. And when we find ourselves consumed with those hopeless feelings, we will then look for ways to numb them with busyness, material things, food, and other substances. We do this because at some point the “normal” things we depend on will fail us.
God knew this, so he gave us something much better to live by. That something is faith. God has granted his followers the grace to believe. Ephesians 2:8 tells us that faith is actually “a gift from God.” Now, there are certain things we will normally put our faith in, like other people, sports teams, a bank, a job. We seem to have very little problem doing that. Yet many people struggle putting their faith in a God they cannot see or hear. A God who makes audacious promises. So God must craft, mold, bend, and even at times hammer our lives to bring us to the place where faith directs our entire life. In reflecting back on my own life, I must admit that the darkest times have actually been good for my personal faith.
Living a “normal” life of doubt, skepticism, and sight is easy for us. Living a life of faith takes discipline, determination, and devotion. God wants to wean us from inadequate life resources. He wants to transform us into people who live radical God-centered faith. He wants to remove “normal” living from us, and replace it with “super-natural” living, which is faith.
Darlene