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by Hollis Wormsby, Jr. What Is Our Lack of Faith Killing? I talked with a Pastor this weekend on what the meaning of Easter was to him. He said that to him Easter was about a renewal of faith. He went on to say that Christ lives in our lives only through our faith, and that when our faith waivers, we literally kill Christ again and again. As I thought about what those words meant in terms of a relationship with the Church and Christ, I realized that these are not the only areas of our lives that a lack of faith can kill. I want to take one step backwards and remember one other story about faith before I go on to make my point for this week. Many years ago I was visiting New Pilgrim Baptist Church, where the Pastor at the time was Reverend Smith. On this particular Easter Sunday Reverend Smith offered a stirring message on what we did and did not have faith in. He noted that we would go to the grocery store and buy a gallon of milk, and have faith that the expiration day on the milk was real, and that it would be good for as long as the label said. We do this he said, because we have faith in the milkman. He noted that we will get in a car made by General Motors or Toyota or Mercedes or whoever. We don’t know much about the men or the women who made the car, but we have faith that car was made right, and we will get in that car with our loved ones and have faith that the steering wheel will turn the car, the brakes will stop the car, that the car will do what it has been promised to do. To take it a little farther down the road, he even noted that we have faith in the people who make our alcohol and illegal drugs. We have faith that they will give us just enough poison to get that good feeling, but not enough to kill us. He noted that we show our faith in all these things every day, and yet we cannot show faith in the Heavenly Father that created us and gives us life. Can I get a have mercy please? Faith is the component inside us that believes in that which we cannot see, or necessarily prove. Faith trumps courage, in that before I can believe in courage, I also have to have faith that those around me will carry on my cause if I am lost. Who would want to sacrifice on the battlefield without having faith that their fellow soldiers would carry on towards the cause of sacrifice, and in their victory give value to the most personal of sacrifices. Faith is the driver inside each of us that holds on to a dream, and moves selflessly toward its fulfillment, knowing that its fulfillment may be its only reward. But what about when faith is missing? As Christians we learn that when we lose our faith in Christ, we contribute to His death. What do we lose when we lose our faith in ourselves, in our families, in our dreams? I think that just as we can kill Christ with our lack of faith, we can also kill our own dreams, and if you are a parent, in the process you contribute to the death of your children’s dreams as well. Our faith is amongst our most precious gifts from God. God could easily have created a form of worship, where the great spirit appeared for us in some meaningful and real way, but He chose not to. He chose a religion based on faith. He chose a religion that only exists in the hearts of those who have the faith to believe. I think this was done because the One doing so understood the power of faith so much better than we. If God in His Glory and His wisdom, chose to build His church on faith, I think it would be wise for us to realize this as the example He set for us, and to build our lives around faith as well. Or at least that’s the way I see it. (Hollis Wormsby has served as a featured columnist for the Birmingham Times for more than 20 years. He is the former host of Talkback on 98.7 KISS FM, and the current host of Real Talk at 3p.m. on Saturday afternoons on 610 AM, where you will find informed discussion and an opportunity to discuss issues of importance to the African American community here in Birmingham. You can also pick up Real Talk on the World Wide Web by going to: 610wagg.com and clicking on the Listen Live button.) |
