Delving Into 'the Foolishness Of Faith'

Recently, The Message reader Mary Jo Bennett shared a “Justice Prayer.” I want to focus on its last sentence:

“And may you be blessed with the foolishness to think that you can make a difference in the world, so you will do things which others say cannot be done.”

We all understand that sentiment, I suspect; I come before you in this column to confess that I’ve never considered that particular blessing to be foolishness. I have always considered it being “blessed with the faith to think that you can make a difference in the world, so you will do things which others say cannot be done.”

I’ve written about this element of my upbringing before; but I thank God daily that neither my parents nor anyone I consider a major influence in my life ever suggested to me that there were things I couldn’t do.

As a result, I’ve accomplished a variety of things in my professional and personal lives that others at least suspected could not be done. The point here is not to recount those accomplishments. Rather, I invite you to embrace that level of faith in your own life by remembering – always – a simple, seven-word sentence.

All you have to do is believe.

Yeah, right; I can hear the skeptics already. To them – you, maybe? – I offer Mark 9: 23-24: “Jesus said to him, ‘If you can!’ Everything is possible to one who has faith.  Then the boy’s father cried out, ‘I do believe, help my unbelief!’”

Do you recall the context of that passage? Jesus was speaking with the father of a boy who was possessed by a demon, and our Savior rebuked that unclean spirit shortly after the exchange above.

When the spirit left the boy, he appeared as a corpse … dead. “But Jesus took him by the hand, raised him, and he stood up” (Mark 9: 27).

Later, in private, the apostles asked Jesus why they hadn’t been able to drive out that demon. His response provides the key to the blessing of faith I refer to earlier: “This kind can only come out through prayer” (Mark 9: 29).

Likewise, I contend that the level of faith I refer to can only come out through prayer. I make that prayer in the simplest form I know of – the one Mark included in his book of the Gospel: “Lord, I do believe, help my unbelief.”

After including this in your regular prayer life … all you have to do is believe.

You will begin to know – not think – that you can make a difference in the world. You will begin to do things others say cannot be done.

At that point, there’s only one thing left. Those people who talk about “what cannot be done” will ask you how … how you have done those things. In that moment, God provides you with the opportunity to help the Holy Spirit “get a foot in the door” toward changing another life.

And He already has provided your answer: “Everything is possible to one who has faith.”