Gas Pumps & Faith

 

Good morning and welcome! 

 A few days ago I was at the QuickTrip helping a man with some fuel for his car so he could get back and forth to work.  While we were at the gas pump, he asked me this question.  “Are belief and faith the same thing?”

 Now, I don’t know what your answer would be, but my answer was, “No.”  The man looked puzzled and asked what the difference was between belief and faith.

 I’m not very good at thinking on my feet, but came up with this rather lame description of belief and faith.  “Belief,” I said, “Is when I can look at the gas pump here and say that the color of it is black.  I don’t need anyone else to confirm it for me…I can see it for myself, and I believe what my eyes are telling me.”

 “Faith is when I can’t see the pump for myself, but you can see it and you tell me that the color is black, and because I trust you (due to past experience with you always being truthful and faithful to me), I have faith (the positive assurance) that the pump color is black and can confidently say that it is black without ever having seen it for myself.”

 I don’t know if that’s a very good explanation or not, but it got me to thinking further about the relationship between belief and faith.  We are told in the New Testament book of James that the devils even believe, but they tremble because their belief won’t do them any good in the end.  We’re told elsewhere in the book of Hebrews that faith is the assurance of the hoped-for things and the evidence for those things that are not seen.

 Actually, I’ve always wondered just how good that Biblical explanation of faith is.  I have to wonder if the description of faith has lost something in the transfer of the thought from the Greek culture to ours, or if there is something about the translation from the Greek into the English that is a little off, because it seems to be a rather difficult description to comprehend, at least for me.  Or, maybe I’m just a little dense when it comes to understanding things like this.

 At any rate, I’d like to go to one or two more places in the Bible.  The writer says, in what we call the great faith chapter of the Bible, Hebrews 11, “without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”  And in the book of James again, we are told that, “Faith without works is useless.”

 Going back to the gas pump thing, I now, in hindsight, would have taken the definition of faith farther.  Faith is not only the assurance that what you tell me is always true and right, but because of my belief in you and the assurance I have that the pump is black, I now act on that and do something as a result…perhaps I buy more black paint to paint the other pumps.  My action…my doing…is a direct result of my belief in what you have told me…belief that has come because my history with you has always been one of honesty and doing what you say you will do.

 Now, let’s translate that to spiritual things for a moment.  Not only do I believe that God exists, I also know by past experience, and by the historical record that is in the Bible, that God always does what He promises, and He always tells me the truth.  Because of that history with God, I have the assurance that He will continue to fulfill His promises and will keep His word.  And because of that assurance, I naturally respond in love for Him and for my neighbor, and jmn in good works of service as I partner with God and with other people to help bring renewal to the creation.

 OK, I don’t know that even this is an adequate description of faith.  I do know that this exercise has helped me see aspects of faith and relationship that I’ve not seen clearly before now.  I hope it has helped you too, at least somewhat.

 It is interesting to me how chance encounters such as the one at the QuickTrip, can lead to this kind of thought and discussion and result in a better understanding of life and living as a Christian on mission in a crazy world.  May your day be filled with the love and grace of a merciful God.

 Blessings.