Themes

• Amazing GraceAutumn ConceptBlueBlackExcelFalling LeavesIsland After SunsetPlatinumVidiyal

Tags

barack_obama beauty climate_change death_penalty earth faith follow_jesus forgiveness god grace human_dignity human_rights humility interrogation iraq jesus justice love movie peace politics poverty prayer revenge rule_of_law stoney terrorism torture ucc war

• Recently Written

  • not my world
  • conflict and community
  • “miah and friends”
  • an extremely regressive tax
  • one more state gives up the death penalty
  • killing bin laden
  • kilauea erupts
  • becoming our own worst enemy
  • illegal to love your neighbor in arizona?
  • easter sunrise 2010

• Recent Comments

  • Emavel D.: Death penalty is a good verdict for a criminal. So that it is good and it just shows how big and unlawful...
  • gabzo: This is my new fave song! so beautiful! that is exactly what happened to me! Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • Eric the courier: After listening to Jesus tell this parable, can we possibly think that Jesus means the church to...
  • Rev Arthur R Stees: Harriet: I love your O’Henry-type story, “He’d Come Here” and will be...
  • Victor: This fits I think with the Buddhist concept of letting go.

• Admin

  • Log in
  • Wordpress
  • XHTML

Subscribe

 Print This Post

genuine faith

Posted on September 23, 2005 | Filed Under faith, favorite posts, spirituality 

Genuine faith can be such an elusive thing …

So much of what we believe derives from childhood experiences, from our parents’ faith or lack of it. We “inherit” our faith just as we inherit so much of what we think and feel and believe. Or we learn when we are young to despise or distrust the protestations of faith that seem so disingenuous. We want to be like mom or like dad, or we want to be anything but like mom or like dad.

Faith can be a hedge against fear or doubt, a way to avoid staring into the emptiness … of a vast and incomprehensible universe, or of a dark and incomprehensible soul. Faith can be a security blanket, a means of cobbling a sense of order onto the chaos of our lives. Faith can be a tool of denial, a means of avoiding questions and bypassing uncertainty.

Faith can be a wall, a wall to stand between us and our shame, a wall to stand between us and those parts of ourselves that baffle us and frighten us and resist our control.

Faith can derive from so many different roots and thrive for so many different reasons. Which makes it all the more amazing, truly amazing, that genuine faith does exist among us! Faith that is unselfish, that is humble, that seeks above all else simply to honor God and follow where God leads. Faith that knows itself, that knows its weaknesses and fragility and acknowledges them. Faith that is teachable and agile and always enlarging. Faith that does not have to have all the answers because the presence of God is answer enough. Faith that does not have to maintain control, because it knows enough to know that it can’t. Faith that is gentle. faith that listens … to God and to other human beings. Faith that is full of joy, not because all is well or all is in order, but simply because God is. Simply because God is …

Genuine faith is such an elusive thing. But it does exist … and it is a beautiful thing indeed!

Tags: faith

Related posts

• living witnesses … witnesses to life From today’s news outlets … By Michael Rubinkam: In Amish village, forgiveness lives Just about anywhere, a deadly school shooting would have brought demands for tighter gun laws and better security, and ...
• obama: the role of faith in political conversation Tolerance and passionate faith are not mutually exclusive. In fact, I believe the opposite is true. Passionate believers, genuine believers, are more tolerant people, because they understand how tolerant God ...
• true Christian? True Christians know that all they are and all they have comes by grace. They know they must look outside themselves for wisdom and direction. They know that personal value ...
• faith without passion? Faith without passion … … is like playing soccer without the ball. You may go through all the motions, but you don’t really accomplish anything and ...
• “glee” is hardly the word for it By William Kristol: Washington (The Weekly Standard) Vol. 011, Issue 37 – 6/12/2006 – U.S. MARINES are under investigation for alleged misconduct in the deaths of Iraqi civilians. The inquiry into ...

Comments