These two words are not necessarily incompatible but we can use wanting ‘facts’ as an excuse. I believe we have a choice to live by facts or to live by faith. And yes, that is a somewhat simplistic view… or is it? Do you live only according to the ‘facts’ or do you live according to faith – is there a middle ground? The last point is the one that most of us would like to accept but in certain areas, you can’t.
So when we ‘live’ by facts what does this say? We’re logical? We’re rational? Not necessarily. Supposedly living by facts presupposes an acceptance of the source of the facts. So the logical, rational question would be – what or who is your source? This is a ‘rubber meets the road’ question. Do you even consider your source? Just how reliable has this source been for you in the past. Before I pound this into the ground, I suspect you see the point I’m making.
Living by faith? How? Why? Same questions? Perhaps an interesting consideration is that faith requires something from you. You have to have faith, and typically in something or someone outside of yourself or ‘control’. Facts, on the other hand, are just that. You can reject them but it doesn’t take from their being fact. Faith requires much more from you – an intellectual and emotional agreement… a belief.
I read somewhere (?) that a prisoner in a concentration camp carved the following: “I believe in the sun, even though it doesn’t shine. I believe in love, even when it isn’t shown. I believe in God, even when He doesn’t speak.” What a marvelous mindset, especially considering where the person was. A slightly different way of phrasing the same thought is found in 2 Corinthians 4:28: “We set our eyes not on what we see but on what we cannot see. What we see will only last a short time, but what we cannot see will last forever.” Both quotes are testimonies to faith.
…but what do you believe?
