The blind beggar got so excited he jumped to his feet and ran across a busy street. Horns blared. Tires squealed. Drivers cursed.
Jesus had called him. That’s all he needed in order to “see.” He had the word of Jesus and he trusted it. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Jesus smiled.
I’ve heard people say that the best kind of faith is blind faith. “Just believe.” That’s similar to saying, “Just be happy,” without giving you a reason to be happy.
Don’t believe in blind faith or fake happiness. Faith always relies on something.
Everybody has faith. Everybody believes in something. So the question isn’t whether you have faith. The question is:
On what does your faith rely?
The weather? The stock market? A clear mind? Health? Wealth? Wardrobe? Weight loss? Good looks? Good grades? Good job? Being a good person? Self-medicating on screen time, overworking, or alcohol? Being able to control others?
None of these offer rock solid consistency and security. They can (and do) bottom out or disappear in a moment. Then what?
“If I have put my trust in gold or said to pure gold, ‘You are my security,’ if I have rejoiced over my great wealth, the fortune my hands had gained, if I have regarded the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor, so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand offered them a kiss of homage, then these also would be sins to be judged, for I would have been unfaithful to God on high” (Job 31:24-28).
Faith relying on these things is not a consistent and secure faith. And what good is that?
Your faith is consistent and secure when the object of your faith is consistent and secure. The only perfect and promised consistency and security is God, his words and promises, and everything he does.
Growing as a Christian doesn’t require blind faith at all, but less faith in our own shaky securities and more faith in God’s words and deeds. Try it, and see what God can do!
PRAYER: Dear God, I trust in ______ too much. It promises me blessings that you promise me, but it cannot deliver them. Not with consistency and security like you can. Not with loving forgiveness and promises of heaven like you can. I trust you. Amen.
FURTHER MEDITATION: What are your top two or three “go-to” idols? You worship these by bowing to them with your trust, and honor, and even worship. You believe their empty promises. You think, “If I have this, I can be happy without God.” Name them. They are often good things that have become ultimate things. Now denounce them as imposters. Ask God in prayer to give you the holy endurance and strength needed for him to help you uproot them, and replace them with him, with his promises and words, and with faith that he is better. You only need God, and when you believe that, everything else is in its right place.