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What Faith is
Sep. 26th, 2005 10:09 pmSo they let me speak at the BSU on Sunday...
Let me wax on my past for a moment. Way back in high school, one of my favorite activities was Quiz Bowl. It was one of those academic team competitions with buzzers. Not only did you have to be fairly fast on the buzzer, you had to be confident in your ability to answer. For example, you had to buzz in when the moderator got as far as “A dog named Buck” with Call of the Wild Jack London. I think one of my best buzzes had to with a book in the Bible. Namely, the moderator got as far as “What is the only one of two books in the Bible…?” I nailed it.
The question...what is only one of two books in the Bible not to mention God directly by name?
The answer was Esther. Ah, yes, Esther, one of my favorite books. Let’s look at Esther 4:14. “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" This passage is often used to assert the necessity of acting at the right time with the right skills. But allow me to shine light on a lesser talked about subject, and that is Mordecai and his faith. His faith that his letter would persuade Esther.
But before that, let’s backtrack the history of Esther:
-Persian King gets angry with Queen, searches for new one
-Esther wins the favor of Xerxes
-Mordecai discovers plot against the King
-Mordecai doesn’t bow to Haman
-Haman decides to kill all Jews
-Mordecai sends a letter to Esther
Esther wasn’t as sure as Mordecai, but his leadership convinced Esther to at least try. He put much faith into Esther. And you know, we often think about Esther’s position. After all that would mean that we had the right skills for the right time. But we should also consider Mordecai’s position, for there are times when we are there to set things up.
The same is true for us today. But how often do we not say the words we need to say or do the things we need to do because we doubt their effectiveness. But we will be victorious for it says in 1 John 4:4 “You dear children are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in this world.” We have victory in our faith.
Let me leave you with an analogy. Faith is like a cork. For one thing, it’s full of holes. Heh, actually, imagine putting a cork into a bucket of water. It’s going to float. Now if you push down on the cork, it will float to the top when you release it. This is true no matter how many times you push down the cork. Faith is like that intuitive grasp of reality…you know it’s true even if you don’t quite know why it’s true. And you will trust that it will happen forever and ever.
Let me wax on my past for a moment. Way back in high school, one of my favorite activities was Quiz Bowl. It was one of those academic team competitions with buzzers. Not only did you have to be fairly fast on the buzzer, you had to be confident in your ability to answer. For example, you had to buzz in when the moderator got as far as “A dog named Buck” with Call of the Wild Jack London. I think one of my best buzzes had to with a book in the Bible. Namely, the moderator got as far as “What is the only one of two books in the Bible…?” I nailed it.
The question...what is only one of two books in the Bible not to mention God directly by name?
The answer was Esther. Ah, yes, Esther, one of my favorite books. Let’s look at Esther 4:14. “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" This passage is often used to assert the necessity of acting at the right time with the right skills. But allow me to shine light on a lesser talked about subject, and that is Mordecai and his faith. His faith that his letter would persuade Esther.
But before that, let’s backtrack the history of Esther:
-Persian King gets angry with Queen, searches for new one
-Esther wins the favor of Xerxes
-Mordecai discovers plot against the King
-Mordecai doesn’t bow to Haman
-Haman decides to kill all Jews
-Mordecai sends a letter to Esther
Esther wasn’t as sure as Mordecai, but his leadership convinced Esther to at least try. He put much faith into Esther. And you know, we often think about Esther’s position. After all that would mean that we had the right skills for the right time. But we should also consider Mordecai’s position, for there are times when we are there to set things up.
The same is true for us today. But how often do we not say the words we need to say or do the things we need to do because we doubt their effectiveness. But we will be victorious for it says in 1 John 4:4 “You dear children are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in this world.” We have victory in our faith.
Let me leave you with an analogy. Faith is like a cork. For one thing, it’s full of holes. Heh, actually, imagine putting a cork into a bucket of water. It’s going to float. Now if you push down on the cork, it will float to the top when you release it. This is true no matter how many times you push down the cork. Faith is like that intuitive grasp of reality…you know it’s true even if you don’t quite know why it’s true. And you will trust that it will happen forever and ever.
