So That They Would Not Reach Perfection Without Us...

When I think about faith, a giant mill stone sinks to the pit of my stomach, and I become slightly nauseous. For some people, a child-like faith comes naturally, but maybe I'm too rooted in the practicality of life on Earth. I expect failure, disappointment, pain, and best-intentions gone awry. To be realistic about human nature is wise if one is to thrive in this world. But that's the irony of it because we were created to thrive in a different universe and state of being. This is why we can recognize and accept things that are foreign to our sinful natures--profoundly beautiful and good things like grace, love, and peace in the midst of chaos. I recognize that I am created with a great capacity for faith, and as a daughter of Abraham, I must rise to the occasion and follow in his footsteps.

When people ask me about my religious views, I usually tell them that I'm growing in a faith-walk. I recognize that God has taken me through many paths and that where I am is unlikely to be the same place where He will be leading me tomorrow. I'm in a continuous journey, and it is this experience that has shown me God's goodness in my life in such a way that I cling to Him in desperation. I understand that a state of desperation is often what leads people to a faith foundation, and so I suppose this might be why God is challenging me in this area now.

But can I call up the blood of Abraham in me? Can I trust in the kinship with God that Abraham's blood has granted humanity? Can I allow myself to seize the opportunity to be bold in blindness?

The author of Hebrews wrote, "Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see" (Heb. 11:1 NLT). To be confident and absolutely sure about things I cannot visibly witness in some fashion is difficult for me. I think I have a good handle on hope--I am willing and even eager to see possibility in all kinds of situations, but to be confident and sure...that I don't know about...

The Message Bible puts it this way: "The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see" (Heb. 11:1).

There it is--faith is the fundamental foundation of making life worth living. Since faith originates outside of this world, it prepares the faithful to exist outside of this world as well. That is why the testimony of those who endured all sorts of trials is so compelling; they were confident that they were not only made for better things but that they would miraculously see their faith come to fruition.

I have often found myself trapped in the seeming unlikeliness of the fairy-tale-like promises of God and the story of a God who loved with such profundity that He chose to die for a corrupted race. It's just too good to be true! But then that's part of what makes it so convincing--how could a corrupt mind conceive such beauty? Is it possible that such goodness could be invented by humanity in its current state?

I believe that fairy tales are rooted in the story of salvation--that happy endings or good overcoming evil are remnants of humanity's desire to hang onto hope--to believe that the promises of all wrongs being made right will come true. J.R.R. Tolkien expressed this concept in his essay "On Fairy Stories". He called the resolution of wrongs "eucatastrophe" (22). Tolkien believed that it is the element of joy that appears in the happy ending of fairy stories that made them good because they mirrored the truth of God.

"The consolation of fairy-stories, the joy of the happy ending: or more
correctly of the good catastrophe, the sudden joyous “turn” (for there is no
true end to any fairy-tale): this joy,which is one of the things which fairy-
stories can produce supremely well, is not essentially “escapist,” nor
fugitive.” In its fairy-tale—or otherworld—setting, it is a sudden and
miraculous grace: never to be counted on to recur. It does not deny the
existence of dyscatastrophe, of sorrow and failure: the possibility of these is
necessary to the joy of deliverance; it denies (in the face of much evidence,
if you will) universal final defeat and in so far is evangelium, giving a
fleeting glimpse of Joy, Joy beyond the walls of the world,poignant as grief"
(Tolkien 22).

Tolkien also explains that the beauty of fairy stories comes from the ability they give the reader to see things from a different perspective. Is it possible that this is one way God has chosen to keep His promises alive in our imperfect world? Tolkien makes a powerful statement about this in "On Fairy Stories":

"I would venture to say that approaching the Christian Story from this
direction, it has long been my feeling (a joyous feeling) that God redeemed the
corrupt making-creatures, men, in a way fitting to this aspect, as to others,
of their strange nature. The Gospels contain a fairystory,or a story of a
larger kind which embraces all the essence of fairy-stories [...] among the
marvels is the greatest and most complete conceivable eucatastrophe. But this
story has entered History and the primary world; the desire and aspiration of
sub-creation has been raised to the fulfillment of Creation. The Birth of Christ
is the eucatastrophe of Man's history. The Resurrection is the eucatastrophe of
the story of the Incarnation. This story begins and ends in joy. It has
pre-eminently the “inner consistency of reality.” There is no tale ever told
that men would rather find was true" (23).

Tolkien is right in comparing the salvation story to fairy tales--to believe that a pumpkin can become a gorgeous carriage, that the beast can become a handsome prince, that rags can be turned to silk--such things are out of this world! But how much harder is it to explain away miracles that defy science? If one is to believe in the Biblical God, then paths can be made through seas, fire doesn't burn those who stand in the midst of it, food is provided out of thin air, and the dead are raised to life!

God forbid that I banish the miraculous to the realm of magic. I pray for a faith like Abraham's and for the courage to pick up his blessing and pass it on. For, in Hebrews, God reveals the beauty of His promise to Abraham for all generations of the faithful. Isn't it just a bit phenomenal that the Bible is filled with the stories of those who died having no doubt that God would fulfill His promises even though they didn't get to see it in their life-time? That's a trust that is bigger than evidence. Beyond that trust, though, is a glimpse of God's incomprehensible love. God isn't content to just settle with Abraham's faith and reward just Abraham for it. God wants an entire race of people who have faith that God's love and goodness will hold Him accountable. God didn't just want one human...He hopes to bless all humans, and it is this inclusiveness that makes the following passage in Hebrews so powerful: "Not one of these people, even though their lives of faith were exemplary, got their hands on what was promised. God had a better plan for us: that their faith and our faith would come together to make one completed whole, their lives of faith not complete apart from ours" (Heb. 11:39-40 The Message). "For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us" (Heb. 11:40 NLT).

When God first spoke to Abraham, He also spoke to us.