Melancholic Derivations

September 11, 2005

Faith By Sight

And the saying goes, that Christians should live only by faith, and not by sight. It's something that I believe everyone struggles with, from the newest of converts to the Pastor himself. Faith alone entails placing trust in something intangible, whether it be even remotely realistic in the future or merely an illusion we feel will never come true. Thus, the battle between the spirit and the flesh rages on, forever illuminating the struggles we will face everyday in this fallen world.

Why'd I end the last paragraph on a seemingly unrelated note, you may inquire? As I've always argued, life is essentially an epic campaign of flesh versus spirit. Human beings are primarily made up of two parts, our physical body and ethereal soul. Our body withers away and is a subject of time, but not our spirit. It is eternal, an entity which lives on and goes far beyond human comprehension. Faith is food to the spirit, just as food nourishes our bodies. Without faith, there can be no building up, no strengthening within. Faith is currency in heaven just as notes and coins are on Earth.

Many, however, over-emphasise the role faith should play in our physical lives. A measure of it must always be found, but we must also be careful to utilise what God has given us. Our eyes. It is all good and well to trust in God for all our needs, but at the same time, we must also rely on our own intelligence and observations because these are God's gifts to the human race. God would not bestow something on us that He did not intend us to put to use. And yet, church leaders and ministers continue harping on the point that if we at any point 'place our faith' in our own understanding, we essentially fail.

But what they don't understand is that if we rely on faith purely, we lose sight of the reality which God has tangibly placed us in.

Traveller fell apart at 1:25 PM