I
once learned an unforgettable lesson from an
invoice I received in the mail. It was from the
insurance company that provides health and
pension coverage for our ministry. Several months
earlier I had petitioned them, asking that they
cut our quarterly payment of $1,500 in half. In
reading their literature I had discovered a
provision which indicated this was possible under
certain conditions, that I felt we met. Reducing
the payment this much would be a considerable
help financially to our ministry, which was still
in its early stage.
The company's brochure was
ambiguous, though, and I wasn't at all certain
they would grant my request. I carefully crafted
a letter explaining why I thought we qualified,
then followed it up with about a half-dozen phone
calls. I also asked that the change be
retroactive and they reimburse us for past
overpayments. In the end I felt I was getting
nowhere, fighting an enormous bureaucracy with no
concern for the little guy.
Finally their invoice arrived. I
confess that my faith was at less than
mustard-seed intensity as I opened the envelope.
Frankly, I expected the worst. Indeed, as I read
their statement I found my negative expectations
rewarded. It was a bill for $1,500--simply
business as usual. All of my effort to change
things had been to no avail.
It was not until several days
later that I reread the statement and realized I
had overlooked one small detail. Following
"$1,500" were two
letters--"CR"--the abbreviation for
"CREDIT." They were not billing us
$1,500 but refunding us that amount!
The invoice, in short, revealed
that I had succeeded in petitioning the
company. But in my skeptical spirit I had read it
to say just the opposite.
The Perils of Pessimism
It is an understatement to say
that our expectations dramatically affect our
view of reality. When we expect a positive
outcome, we're alert to indications of success
that come our way. But when we expect failure, we
can miss the signs of success altogether or even
read them mistakenly as proofs of defeat. As my
experience with the invoice shows, missing some
small detail can make all the difference in how
we interpret a situation.
It's to this end that the
Scriptures warn us so frequently of the extreme
dangers of hardness of heart. "Hardness of
heart" is the biblical term for loss of
optimism, particularly regarding our expectations
of God. When hardness of heart sets in, a crust
forms over our mind and feelings; gradually we
stop thinking creatively and begin seeing
everything from a negative perspective. We cease
believing that God has our best interests in mind
and start drawing restrictions around his
possibilities for our life and the lives of
others.
While Scripture urges us to be
alert to the problem of hardness of heart, it
stresses even more emphatically that we can avoid
its hazards through an outlook of faith. Faith is
the diametrical opposite of hardness of heart.
While the one expects the worst of God, the other
expects the best of him. Faith is an exceedingly
hopeful, trusting and confident perspective. From
the viewpoint of faith we see our lives not only
realistically but optimistically as well. The
small details which signify God's care and
provision for us are much less likely to escape
our notice.
Had my expectations been more
faith-inspired when I first examined that
invoice, I doubt I would have been so quick to
misinterpret it. The experience stands out in my
mind as a classic example of what happens when
our faith is insufficient--a lesson I've never
forgotten.
The Rewards of Faith
Since our need for faith is so
deep-seated, we should make every effort to
understand as clearly as possible what an
attitude of faith involves. What are the
characteristics which make up an outlook of
faith? Understanding them will allow us to gauge
whether we are seeing our own life from the
standpoint of faith or not.
Some of the most valuable
insights which Scripture provides into the nature
of faith come through examples of those who
demonstrated it. While there are many such
examples in the Old and New Testaments, I find it
particularly helpful to look at those where Jesus
directly complimented someone's faith.
Surprisingly, such situations are not common in
the Gospels. Though Jesus spoke often about
faith, he commended the faith of
individuals on only eight occasions. The fact
that he was so sparing in affirming people's
faith suggests that those instances when he did
are supreme demonstrations of faith. Taken
together, they should give us a treasured insight
into the characteristics of faith.
These incidents include the
following people:
 Blind
Bartimaeus. As Jesus is leaving Jericho, a
blind beggar sitting by the roadside repeatedly
cries to him for mercy, even though numerous
people admonish him to be quiet. Jesus invites
the man to come to him and asks him his request.
When he replies, "Rabbi, I want to
see," Jesus responds, "Go, your faith
has healed you" (Mk 10:46-52; Lk 8:35-43).
A
woman with a hemorrhage. A woman who has
experienced a blood flow for twelve years decides
to approach Jesus for help. She pushes through a
massive crowd and when she reaches Jesus merely
touches the edge of his robe. Her hemorrhaging
instantly stops. Recognizing that someone has
drawn on his healing power, Jesus looks around
the crowd, asking who has touched him. When the
woman, now terrified, admits her deed, he
declares, "Daughter, your faith has healed
you. Go in peace and be freed from your
suffering" (Mk 5:25-34; Mt 9:20-22; Lk
8:43-48).
Four
men with a paralyzed friend. Four men, eager
to bring their disabled friend to Jesus for
healing, are unable to forge through a dense,
unyielding crowd to reach Jesus in the home where
he is teaching. In a burst of ingenuity, they
pull tiles off the roof above the room where he
is sitting and lower the man in front of him. The
Gospel writers note that "when Jesus saw
their faith," he immediately turned his
attention to this man, forgiving his sins and
healing him (Mk 2:1-12; Mt 9:1-8; Lk 5:17-26).
A
tenacious woman. A Canaanite woman persists
in begging Jesus to heal her demon-possessed
daughter, in spite of the fact that he initially
seems reluctant to get involved. Finally he
agrees to help her, exclaiming, "Woman, you
have great faith! Your request is granted"
(Mt 15:21-28).
A
disdained woman. A prostitute enters a
Pharisee's home where Jesus is dining and stands
behind Jesus weeping. Finally she kneels and,
drenching his feet with her tears, kisses them,
perfumes them and wipes them with her hair. After
admonishing his host for despising this woman,
Jesus turns to her and says, "Your sins are
forgiven . . . Your faith has saved you; go in
peace" (Lk 7:36-50).
The
one leper who thanks Jesus. Ten lepers
approach Jesus and ask for healing. He tells them
to go and present themselves to the priest. As
they are walking away their leprosy disappears.
One man--the only Samaritan among this group of
Jews--rushes back to Jesus and falls at his feet,
thanking him and praising God profusely. Jesus,
astonished that none of the others has displayed
such gratitude, says to the man, "Rise and
go; your faith has made you well" (Lk
17:11-19).
A
centurion who requests healing for his servant.
A Roman military official sends a group of Jewish
officials to ask Jesus to come to his home and
heal his critically ill servant. Jesus agrees to
go but while traveling there is met by a
delegation of the centurion's friends who revise
the request. The centurion doesn't want to burden
Jesus with the journey, they say, and feels
unworthy for him to enter his home. He asks that
Jesus simply perform the miracle from this
distance. Just as soldiers obey his own orders
without hesitation, the centurion reasons, his
servant's spirit will respond to Jesus' command
for healing even without Jesus' being physically
present. The centurion's thoughtfulness and
creative reasoning amaze Jesus and evoke the most
effusive comment he makes about anyone's faith:
"I tell you, I have not found such great
faith even in Israel" (Lk 7:2-10).
Two
blind men who ask for healing. Two blind men
follow Jesus as he travels along and implore him
to heal them. Finally he queries them, "Do
you believe that I am able to do this?" When
they reply, "Yes," he responds,
"According to your faith will it be done to
you." At that moment their sight is restored
(Mt 9:27-29).
The Five Characteristics of
Faith
These are the sum total of
incidents in the Gospels where Jesus explicitly
compliments someone's faith. Perhaps most
surprising is that in none of them did the
person's faith have anything to do with doctrinal
knowledge. Most of these people had only an
elementary grasp of who Jesus was, and none had
anything close to a highly developed Christian
theology. The faith which impressed Jesus in
every case, rather, was an attitude of heart.
Most obviously it amounted to an uncanny optimism
about receiving help from him.
When we look more closely at the
attitude of faith which these people displayed,
we find it involved at least five outlooks:
1. The belief that God was
a friend who desired the very best for them.
It is more instinctive to think of God as our
adversary than our friend, especially during
times of personal disappointment or loss. Faith
is an attitude which holds fast to the conviction
that God is an unequivocal friend who wills good,
not evil, for us.
2. The belief that they
would benefit by seeking help from Christ and
submitting to him. We often hear it said
that Christians should serve Christ without any
hope for reward. The Scriptures, however, know
nothing of such rigid legalism. Rather, they
speak extensively of the benefits which derive
from a relationship with Christ and urge us to
earnestly seek and desire these advantages (Heb
11:6). Faith desires the greatest benefits God
offers and believes these will result from
faithfully following Christ. It is "the will
to live" in the highest sense. Perhaps
better stated, it is the will to live abundantly.
3. The determination to do
whatever was necessary to get help from Jesus.
The faith these people demonstrated was strongly
active, not merely passive--as many Christians
assume faith should normally be. This is
impressive considering that individuals in at
least six of these cases had to overcome
significant obstacles, social pressure or stigma
to approach Jesus. Their examples show that faith
often involves taking significant personal
initiative.
4. Considerable confidence
that their specific need would be met by Jesus.
They were highly optimistic about accomplishing
their purpose. Their confidence did stop short of
a "what-you-believe-you-can-achieve"
philosophy; I don't sense that most of them were
blatantly certain they would reach their goal.
Yet they were all strongly confident that Jesus
was able to solve their particular problem
(Mt 9:28) and exceedingly hopeful he would do so.
Their attitude is perhaps best described as substantial
optimism that they would get their needs met.
This substantial optimism is at the heart of
authentic faith.
5. Humility and
thankfulness. Profound gratitude to God
was demonstrated by the Samaritan leper, blind
Bartimeaus and the prostitute who entered the
Pharisee's home. Several of the individuals also
displayed stiking humility in their encounter
with Jesus (the centurion, the woman with the
hemorrhage, the Canaanite woman and the
prostitute). We can guess that each of the
individuals in these passages exhibited a humble
recognition of their need for God's help and a
significant potential for gratitude, and that
these qualities were an important part of the
faith that impressed
Jesus.
I believe that these five
outlooks go a long way toward describing the
attitude of faith as Scripture understands it.
They are good benchmarks for measuring how well
our own attitudes compare with genuine faith.
This is not to imply that developing our
knowledge of doctrine is unimportant or unrelated
to experiencing faith. Christians who are growing
in faith will be motivated to grow in their
doctrinal understanding as well--to strengthen
their grasp of "the faith." Still, the attitude
of faith is something much more basic and may be
experienced by even a new Christian or one with
minimal doctrinal insight. It is best described
as an optimistic expectation about receiving
help from God. The five outlooks we've
examined throw further light on what this
attitude of faith involves.
The Challenge of Faith
You and I will do well to adopt
these viewpoints and hold fast to them, as we
face challenges in the present and as we plan for
our future. Great benefit comes from spending
some uncluttered time each day in personal
reflection, where we carefully consider where our
own faith is inadequate and remind ourselves of
the basis we have for staying hopeful. Let me
encourage you to invest such time.
And during the course of the day,
when you find yourself slipping into a
pessimistic frame of mind, make a practice of
stopping yourself and noting where you are
falling short of an optimistic outlook. Remind
yourself of the benefits that come from an
attitude of faith: you see both your present
situation and your future possibilities more
clearly. And ask God to renew this attitude
within you.
I urge you to make every effort
to see your life through the eyes of faith.
It's to your credit.
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