I’m Sick and Tired of All This: Faith is Belief in Unseen Things

This is Part 1 in a series.  It's about...

Belief in what's possible...

...The Strength of Solutions

...My Experience with a Colicky Baby 

It is common to become exasperated by the problems in our lives.  Finding the solution is a long process especially if we aren’t sure it will work.  When the outcome is unknown it is unseen.  Faith is belief in what we can’t see.  It is…Belief in solutions.  Belief in possibilities.  Belief in promises.  Belief in Divine protection.  When we can’t believe in these things we are just suspending belief until we get more information. 

Any solution that I act on is also faith because faith is an action.  The reason not all actions work out is because we are putting our faith in something that is only partially seen and may not be the truth we seek. 

For example:  I have a baby who cries all the time.  She is only a few months old and she only cries at certain times of day.  She also arches her back.  I try to soothe her by feeding her, changing her diaper, rocking her, singing to her but nothing works.  That’s colic.  Sometimes she throws up all the milk I feed her.  These are the observations I’ve made.  Somebody says, “Have you tried Mylicon Infant Gas drops?”  So I put my faith in this solution and I notice that my baby doesn’t arch her back as much and she burps a lot but she still cries.  In terms of faith, I tried Mylicon drops and they worked a little but didn’t solve the problem so I based my faith on something that was only partially true.  Mylicon drops are not the truth I need. 

The process to finding a solution is long.  Belief in a solution, any solution - is faith.  Fast forward to the next time I have a baby…So what else can I put faith in?  Somebody said, “Have you tried taking dairy out of your/his diet?”  So I take dairy out and he stops crying.  I add it back in and he throws up.  I can see that there is a correlation.  Putting faith in the solution of no dairy in my/his diet has better results.  So my faith is justified.

The strength of the solution is based on it’s truth.  If it is partially true it will be somewhat strong.  If it is all-the-way true, the solution will be strong.  I can have faith even if I don’t know how true a solution is or how true the promises are.  Just exercising a little faith will give me more information and allow me to get more faith for bigger leaps.

The picture in this post represents how we see in part before we see the whole.  We put our faith in things that turn out to be good.  We also put our faith in things that turn out to be bad.  Faith is belief no matter whether the thing we put our faith in is bad or good.

"...now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."

I Corinthians 13:12

Challenge:  Today choose to have faith in a solution that you can't see.  Gather information, test the truths you find, persevere even if you only see part of the picture.