When I embarked on this blogging journey, I had no idea that Faith would become the overarching topic--but it makes sense because faith has become the central focus of the lifestyle decisions I'm making now.
I have always felt a measure of empathy for Jesus' disciple, Thomas. I'm sure I would've been much like him had I been in his situation. I know Thomas gets a bad rap for doubting even when he could see the resurrected Jesus standing before him, but maybe Thomas just had good common sense. Maybe he didn't want to be swept away by emotions or wishful thinking. He wanted to be 100% sure that what he had heard and what he was seeing was valid. Of course, I can see how validating evidence shows a weakness in trust. After spending three years with Jesus and witnessing all sorts of mind-blowing miracles, one might think that it shouldn't have been so difficult for Thomas to believe that Jesus, being God after all, would follow through with His promise to rise from the dead.
But as I've begun to realize, faith cannot be treated or approached in the same way that a detective or journalist approaches the evidence for a crime. For someone like me, faith must be a conscious decision that precedes an emotional surety. It's a change of perspective--a shift in the way one looks at and in what one expects to encounter in the world.
Is it possible for people to manipulate their thought processes in such a way that they would at some point find that they had somehow emerged into a state of faith? I believe so. Practice makes perfect, right? Just like anything that is outside of one's comfort zone, faith isn't something that can just be called up from within oneself, it has to be cultivated.
I'm sure that faith, since it is rooted in one's personal relationship with God, shows up and is worked out differently for each individual. However, I believe that there are some basic principles that are universally applicable.
How does one nurture faith? Where does it come from? How can one reach a place where faith moves from just being a state of the mind to a state of the heart?
If one believes in the Biblical creation story, that humans were made by the hand of God, created through the most intimate actions and thoughts of God, then it shouldn't be too hard to believe that God created human beings with an innate sense of faith. Paul writes in Romans 12:3 that "God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith" (KJV). It is this phenomenal gracious act that makes it possible for sinful human nature to encounter God at all. Knowing that God's love for His creation holds His heart captive to a flawed race moves me in a way that I cannot express in words. There is no other love in the universe that could compare. It's almost as if God has a tragic flaw--love. He cannot help Himself. He wants to love and be loved by his creation so deeply that He chose to plant a measure of faith in the DNA of every human being so that everyone would have access to Him. To God, we are priceless.
Not only did God place the capacity for faith inside each human, but He also gave humanity access to the key that would give a glimpse of His character--a character that would inspire a desire to trust. I expect that's all it takes to begin the germination of the faith seed. In Romans 10:17, Paul explains that "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God". Essentially, one becomes like the things he/she is exposed to. Reading and hearing about faith reinforces the synapses in the brain that connect to the concept. Science shows that the more one thinks about a particular thing, the stronger the related synapses become, and if this is done for a long enough period of time, the concept that has been given such attention becomes second nature. So thought processes relating to faith will, in turn, cause a shift in one's worldview, ultimately becoming evidenced in one's words and actions.
I'm incredulous...God designed humanity to engage in faith. He not only automatically placed a measure of faith inside of us, but He designed our minds in such a way that it is possible to make faith our second nature.
So no matter how much I question or doubt, I am innately capable of faith. I can already feel how this understanding is changing me. Bring it on synapses! Let's engage!
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