Believing When it Doesn't Make Sense

...believing when it doesnt make sense...-Francis Chan Erasing Hell p. 107
   
                Faith is believing when it doesn’t make sense. When a wonderful daddy suddenly dies leaving two precious teenagers behind. When I see a hundred children go without food—eating paper and crayon shavings in an attempt to ease their pangs. When a young—married less than two weeks—man dies in a work accident. When a godly 24 year old succumbs to cancer. It aches. It hurts to the core and stirs up fears of—if them, why not me? Or, why am I living this abundant life when those precious babies are starving? Where is the assurance when this world is crumbling, crying, cancer-ridden? When complacence and consumer-driven selfishness engulf a culture too gluttonous to look up from their rotting piles of wealth-based identities to see the plight of their fellow man? When we almost believe we are entitled while comforting ourselves and quieting guilt with the audacious thought that the poor somehow deserve or have earned it.

                Where is compassion? Courage? Victory? Where does faith find its footing in a world of contradictions and disparities? Where do I start with removing my own planks when I see the collective effects of a culture shattered by splintered truths?

                Faith is believing when it doesn’t make sense. Our western mindset wants an easy fix—from diet pills to every magazine littered with “10 steps to a sure result”. We want clear answers to complex problems. We want a microwaveable solution to a Thanksgiving feast amount of work. But faith calls us to patience, to humility, to admitting we are finite and broken. We are infantile in our desires and patience. Faith quiets our questions by reminding us of the form of our salvation—suffering. It reminds us that we are part of the problem and that our eyes are tainted by sin. Faith is without foundation if we abandon it when it doesn’t offer a quick fix, an instant gratification. Faith reminds us the cross of suffering leads to salvation—not a pain-free and easy answer. I believe when the world doesn’t make sense because faith is the only thing that does.