Imagine for a moment that you owned a car, and I offered to have a friend of mine come and clean and detail the car for you, for free. Now, while in that conversation, I happen to mention that my friend is a well-known car thief, with warrants for his arrest in over 25 countries. Now your reaction from what I have said, should be fear. In fact, no matter how much I tell you to trust me, relax and tell you that its a good deal, you probably don’t want my car thief friend anywhere near your car. That would, of course be the appropriate response. Fear becomes the natural by-product from the evidence I have presented.
Now imagine, in a similar scenario, you have a car, and I offered to have a friend come and detail it for free. This time, my friend happens to be a world champion detailer and car restorer for the last 5 years. Then I mention that he uses the most advance techniques in the industry, and he has written the book that is used to train others in the field all around the world. Then to top it off, I mention that when celebrities, politicians and royalty want their cars cleaned for special events, he is the guy that they call. Now, unlike in my previous example, your expectation arises and you suddenly are looking forward to this encounter. Faith becomes the natural by product from the evidence presented.
I say all of that to make a parallel. There have been many dark and hard times in my life, when my fellow Christians family would come up to me and tell me to “Have Faith in God.” As much as I appreciate their heart, I cannot muster up faith out of thin air. In fact, sometimes in those moments when my brethren were telling me to have faith, I felt even worse because I knew I wasn’t in faith and felt guilt as a result.
Our job as Ministers is to present the evidence of what Jesus has done, so Faith becomes our effortless response. The more we focus on what Christ has accomplished and provided for us, through the finished work, Scriptures, and our Testimonies, we no longer need to tell people to have faith, rather people can’t help but believe. Talking and listening to hear about the Goodness of God is the key to effortless faith.
Amen.