What is “true faith”? What does it look like to truly believe and not to doubt? If you were to drop a ball, I’m sure you would have total and complete faith that it will fall to the ground. You would not doubt. In fact, if things were to happen any differently; say if the ball were to float upward, suspend in mid air, or shoot off diagonally instead of falling straight to the floor, it would probably blow your mind. You may even need therapy after seeing something so incredible. But if you, or I, were to drop a ball, there is no doubt in our minds that it would do exactly what we think it would do. That is “true faith”. That is the kind of faith Jesus had while he walked this earth. He had absolutely no doubt that when he laid his hands on someone they would be healed, that when he wanted to walk on the water he wouldn’t sink, and when he called Lazarus forth from the grave that he would be raised from the dead. It says in John, chapter 11, verses 41 and 42:
“So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
The very next verse describes Jesus calling for Lazarus to “come out” from the tomb; a tomb in which he lay dead for four days! Even knowing this Jesus had absolutely no doubt that Lazarus would appear. In fact, when Jesus prayed aloud, he only did it for the benefit of the people around him, not for himself. So if you want to know what complete faith looks like, this is it. Jesus was as sure that Lazarus would walk out of the tomb, as you and I are that a ball dropped would fall to the floor. And I believe that it is this level of faith that we are to strive to achieve. One reason we believe that when we drop a ball it will fall to the floor is because we have complete faith in the law of gravity. We’ve seen it and experienced it since our first day on this earth. It has never changed, and never will change, unless God performs a miracle. Jesus has known from the beginning of time who the Father is and how he will respond to his prayers. I don’t know about you, but I want to hone my faith to a level that it is equal to, or even greater than, my belief in gravity.
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Faith is a learned behavior. Just like our faith in gravity is learned, our faith in our Lord is learned. The Bible teaches us that we build faith by reading his word. Romans reminds us that “faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of God”. Faith is also learned through experience. When we experience God being true to his word, we have faith that he will do it again. So, we gain faith by reading God’s word and experiencing his faithfulness. Are you reading God’s word? Are you putting it into practice? That is how we gain faith. In fact, Jesus says that if we have faith and do not doubt, we can say to a mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. That is as impossible as saying to a man who has been dead for four days to “come out”, but Jesus had enough faith to believe in both.
