Chapter 11

Why faith? It seems an odd requirement, considering the nature of God. God should be obvious to us, considering who he is. So, why faith? That is the question we are exploring in this chapter. All religions require some kind of faith. But Christianity is unique because it makes faith absolutely central to how we know God. We can know God only by faith. Does that mean Christianity runs contrary to reason and knowledge? Is faith a substitute for more reliable ways of knowing? If so, it leads to the inevitable conclusion that as we learn more we will gradually diminish the need for faith. Is faith necessary only when dealing with unanswered or unanswerable questions? Here’s something to ponder: God came to us in a way that many people missed. Let that sink in! God came hidden and disguised. Pontius Pilate had Jesus standing before him when he asked cynically, “What is truth?” And the Truth was standing right in front of him! The incarnation of God as Jesus Christ shows that God refuses to bully or intimidate or show off. He comes to us as Jesus, a Palestinian Jew. He comes disguised. He comes concealed. He gives us freedom and creates room for us to step toward him. Hence the need for faith. What do you learn about faith in the following biblical texts:

Psalm 27; Isaiah 55; John 18-19; Romans 5:1-5; Ephesians 2:1-10; Hebrew 11

One of the biggest challenges to faith is to believe God is good when life is not good. Even then faith confesses that God is still good. But faith does more: it looks for signs of God’s goodness even when sin and evil hold sway. The exercise for this chapter is to confess that God is good and then to look for signs of goodness in your life. It might not be what you want. It is often the case that God disappoints. But disappointment weans us from our definition of the good and enables us to embrace God’s definition of the good. God’s goodness is redemptive. In the end it is simply bigger and better than our understanding of goodness, more expansive and creative. Confessing God’s goodness every day and looking for signs of God’s goodness in daily life forces us to shift from our definition of goodness to God’s. Thus: confess that God is good. Make a list each day of the signs you see of God’s goodness.

What did you learn about living by faith from the chapter, the Bible study, and the spiritual exercise? What kind of impact did it have on your life?

Psalm 27:13-14

Romans 5:1-5