The Two Sides Of Faith

There is the faith that raised up the dead. The faith that opened up a closed womb. The faith that opened the sight of the blind. The faith that recovered what was lost.

On the other hand, there is the faith that did not raise up the dead. The faith that did not open a closed womb. The faith that was powerless against the onslaught of evil. And the faith that got your butt kicked all over the place.

Both faiths are one and the same.

For many generations, we have heard about the miraculous things done by faith. In the process, we have drowned out the voice of other credible witnesses who tell us the other side of faith - the shells of broken promises and husks of unfulfilled hopes - the ironical signs of a covenant on its way to fulfillment.

The triumphant side of faith brings lots of benefits to its teachers... and a little less to the hearers. But we do no one any favours by obsessing about that side of faith. There are ordinary men and women like you and me who died while having faith, who got killed doing what God wanted. But God did not save them for reasons unknown to us. We must celebrate that side of faith as much as the other. I daresay we must revel in it. For acknowledging and revelling in it holds one of the keys to understanding the frightful nature of God and much more.

- Hebrews 11:39

** Photo used is "Urban Sadness" by Aramisse and made available under a CC BY-ND 2.0 license