Everyone talks about faith.

"Faith this, faith that. Without faith it is impossible. Have faith trust faith. That's not real faith. Here is real faith. Let me tell you about faith. You only need a little faith. Through faith we are saved."

The question I pose to everyone is...who in this world actually truly has faith?

If the church at large had faith, marriages wouldn't be falling apart, adulterous affairs would be non-existent, priests wouldn't become pedophiles, mountains would move, people would be healed, disillusionment would be a thing of the past.

You can't tell me that we so-called believers actually have faith. We don't. We are so completely dry, and yet all the same, so convinced of our non-existent faith.

"Oh sure I have faith! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go lock myself in my safety cage...otherwise known as my house."

If it is by faith that we are justified before God, then woe is us, those who claim to believe...at least those of us who reside in the United States.
If we the church truly had faith, even just those of us who actually try, then poverty, hunger and illness wouldn't exist in this nation. But I don't believe most of us even know God.

Do I know God?

I've talked to Him. I've even answered His requests. But the truth of the matter is that my faith is rather disgustingly small, sitting on the back burner of my intentions, my mere failsafe for when all other plans foil.

Yes, if it is by faith that we are justified in the sight of God, I wonder just how many of us are justified.

Are you?

Am I?

Many will try to [justify themselves] by saying "I don't have to be a saint to make it."

You don't?



What makes you so sure? Don't misunderstand me...I know that we are not justified by works. But faith without works is stillborn...as useless as a blown fuse. It is dead. It is becoming clearer to me that the deeds we do are more than just a proof of faith...it is also a necessary trial to our faith. Just like you can't be in the army until you've been through basic.

Do you want to know the craziest part of all of this?


We don't have true, righteous faith unless God first gave it to us. Scripture states that He is the author and finisher of our faith.

What does this mean for us?

It means, ladies and gentlemen that in the face of God, we are powerless. Perhaps the only thing we can do is just be humble.
Maybe that's why Jesus, when asked for more faith by His disciples, immediately shared a parable about the servant being humble to his master. I used to never understand that, but I get it now. The only way we can have faith is if God should give us that faith. And maybe He will do so when we at last accept the fact that we are powerless, admit the fact that beside grace we are nothing more than a spiritual dog-and-pony show.

Faith isn't man reaching out to God...faith is God pulling man from the mire and melding him into a work of art, a saint, a king. And perhaps the beginning of faith is when we understand that we can attain nothing apart from Adonai.