Faith > Knowledge
January 28, 2024
Faith
January 28, 2024
Faith
Earlier this week I sat with a friend, a Jewish friend that I haven’t seen in close to two years. We met in a CEO mentoring and accountability group about 8 or 9 years ago. He’s a bit older than me, has worked in a successful family business his whole life and he considers himself a secular Jew. He’s a family man with two kids, a strong marriage and believes in service to others. He gives back to his community through his business by building homes for Habitat for Humanity, and personally by going onsite to assist in construction. He has strong moral values, and I’d consider him one of the most trustworthy people I’ve met.
For sake of anonymity, let’s call him Thomas or Tom for short. While sitting with him, catching up on the last couple of years, I began telling him about my heart attack which happened April 14, 2023 at 3:00 PM. Apparently, he had no idea. After filling him in, the conversation shifted towards faith, I don’t remember how I ended up on the topic, other than always trying to include Him in every conversation. Thinking back, I may have asked him flat out to tell me about his relationship with Jesus. This was the first time I’d asked a Jew—it just flew out of my mouth.
The look of surprise crossed his face, he chuckled and went on to tell me he only made it to Temple twice a year. I didn’t expect Tom to have a relationship with Jesus, but it’s a great ice breaker to discussing faith. He admitted being a man of morals and good deeds, but what about faith and surrender? His Biblical knowledge for being self admittedly “secular” was incredible, he knew stories from both the Old and New Testament as well. Tom told me of his friend, a Rabbi and how he’s relied on him from time to time to answer some of life’s questions.
Tom, now incredibly curious about the origin of my off the wall question, asked his own. He assumed incorrectly that my heart attack had brought me to religion. To be fair, it’s an easy assumption to make, and while facing one’s own mortality can potentially bring a person to God, that wasn’t the case for me. It would take my dad’s near-death experience after his colon exploded, six months after my heart attack, for me to completely surrender my life to God. Within hours I was on my hands and knees in complete surrender, Jesus woke me up in the middle of the night and opened the door to His Kingdom.
Some I had answers for, others I didn’t. I only know two verses in the Bible by heart, Proverbs 27:17, “Iron sharpens iron, as one person sharpens another”, and John 14:6, “I am the way the truth and the life, no one gets to the father except through me.” Tom knows that I’m all business, and where this conversation was headed next knocked him on the floor. I shared with him what the last nine months of my life looked like, from deep diving into the “science” behind Creation, through the 10 dimensions of reality, ultimately to God, then the deconstruction of my faith and a new reliance on the Old Testament; Moses’s tablets in particular. I summarized the last six months of my life into a 5-minute story, then gave pause for him to catch up.
Tom asked if I’d been religious in my past; “I haven’t”, I said. I told him my parents raised me as a checkbox Christian. He asked about my dad and his health, and at that point, I suppose he thought I was a fan of the Old Testament, but my story continued from there. I began telling him I met a couple of missionaries and how I confused them in my mind for Doctor’s Without Borders mission groups. They were actually modern-day Disciples of Jesus Christ, going from place to place sharing the Gospels good news — a people I’ve never met before. If you don’t know what a Biblical disciple is, please see Luke 12:1-10. I went on to tell him how three days later I begged Jesus to reveal himself to me; total surrender. His mouth was wide open, leaning forward in his chair in utter amazement. I proceeded to tell him about the 9-day walk with Jesus I had, and how over the last 90-days I became reborn; a man with purpose.
I paused once more, and a litany of questions overcame the conversation; mixed with awe and shock. The shock is what stuck with me; it was recurrent. “I’ve never met an intelligent person whose had this type of experience.” He went on to say that he’s seen these types of things online or on television, but he’d never met a person, especially an intelligent person, who had such an encounter with Jesus. He must have said it 3 or 4 times; genuinely perplexed at the transformation I described. He went on to admit the peace he saw in me, and I responded with something along the lines of, “Putting Jesus in the driver’s seat and surrendering my will to Him is THE path to His Salvation.” I told him about the doorway of surrender and renunciation and how on the other side, through obedience to Him in me, I found His Grace, and Peace.
The conversation continued, which consisted of more questions from him, and answers from me rooted in His Word. I wasn’t Bible thumping, but I was consistent in the message. Jesus is my salvation and I blindly believe in Him. The trick with faith is, you must believe, blindly, before His GIFTS are given. The fact that God is all knowing is the test. A person can’t hide thoughts, the surrender must be complete; He knows. I’m not sure Tom was able to make the leap, although he was incredibly happy for me. We said our goodbyes, gave each other a hug, and promised not to let so much time pass before seeing one another again.
As I got into my car I felt peace, standing firm in faith and unwavering in my message; being bold, and spreading the Good News. Once on the highway my thoughts shifted to Tom’s dismay. How could someone he knew to be intelligent, smart and societies definition of successful ‘believe’ and have such a transformative experience? I thought to myself, “maybe telling him I’m God’s vessel was too much” then I smiled and thought that it was the perfect thing to say. Going where guided is obedience, and that keeps me on the narrow path. Finding his disbelief relatable, I thought about the root cause of it for all of us and landed on original sin.
Way back in the beginning was the bite of the apple from the tree of knowledge. This simple act breathed life into the knowledge of both Good AND evil. This level of knowledge encompasses all the good and evil that we know and can intellectualize. Intellect short circuits the connection with His Spirit in us and to Him; the entire Trinity. This includes good knowledge as well. Imagine for a moment a lifelong believer, growing up in a strict Christian family, where church on Sunday was one seventh of the weeks praise to the Lord. They devote an hour a day to the Lord, grew up in faith and were saved at 11. Consuming knowledge about Christ, memorizing verses and by all measures, if they wanted, could become a preacher. One day while out, you run into him, and you’re a follower of course, so, a conversation ensues. Being good Christian’s, the discussion goes straight to God, a debate ensues and five minutes later, somehow, you are both in an argument.
Topic of the argument; angels and demons. Through years of study outside of the Bible in books inspired by man, he’s convinced that angels and demons aren’t real, and serve as historical characters in the Bible. His intellect degraded the integrity of the Bible just as scientists have tried to debunk His Creation. Just as He breathed life into us, we breathe life into lies through knowledge. To make matters worse this intellect becomes belief, as his lens changes, the Bible becomes incongruent. Blind faith disappears. The Father knows, and shame consumes him. You think, how can he believe in Jesus and not angels or demons? Being a Follower, His Spirit in you is your guide and discernment is His gift.
Tom isn’t so different, from the man that grew up surrounded by Christian knowledge— he’s fascinated about the history in the Bible, intelligent on the historical figures and conversational about the stories. Yet, too logical to blindly believe. He’s a “show me, then maybe I’ll believe” kind of guy. Two different paths to intellect, one believer, one not and yet equally disconnected from Him. Whether Christian or secular Jew, eating the fruit of knowledge keeps you there, in your head, unable to access His gifts or His Spirit. Locked in the prison of being a good person, totally blind to our purpose on Earth. Obedience is hard, there is no doubt about that, surrender is harder, but blind faith is next to impossible when locked behind the door of intellect. Looking at the world through the prism of your own opinions is isolating. Looking at the world through the prism of His Word is liberation; freedom defined.
I can relate to both men, we all from time to time get caught up in what we know which can shift our beliefs. I spent the first 44 years of my life locked in knowledge, believing in some aspects of the Bible, God for sure, but a majority I found unrelatable. In retrospect, I wasn’t even a lukewarm Christian, I went through the motions unable to debate anything Biblical beyond my own shallow assumptions. God blessed me with my wife, Yolanda, a lifelong believer who had been praying for me for years. She’s planted more seeds in my garden than I will ever know. She’s come alongside me daily for 13 years watering the seeds of faith until they sprouted through the soil as new life.
As a Follower, when you find yourself in service of YOUR knowledge, it’s become an idol. Obviously false, it’s time to surrender it at His Cross, and it would be disrespectful to Him and you not to. We are here to Glorify Him, nothing more. Knowledge doesn’t make a better glorifier in His eyes. He blesses us with more than we will ever truly know. Knowledge empowers ego and the ego empowers self. As a Follower, I urge John 3:3 upon you, 3Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” Clear as day to be born again is to be childlike once more, without knowledge, innocent in thought, and pure in heart. Through Him in you, pray for acceptance that your knowledge becomes irrelevant, and for Jesus to take your intellect from you. Faith in Him is incredible, blind faith, however, is the key to His Kingdom; peace awaits.
Having blind faith in Jesus’s teachings is likened to trusting a friend implicitly. The requirement, however, for anyone to trust another person with their life is to have a relationship, a deep relationship. Trust is built up over time through consistency in action, transparency, commitment to one another, communication, vulnerability and listening. The same holds true for blind faith in Jesus. Simple belief, that of a child, is the only requirement to open the door to His Kingdom. Once the door is opened a relationship can begin to form. Through consistent prayer, becoming vulnerable and listening to Him; faith grows.
The term blind faith, for some, may be a mountain too high to climb. It was for me. However, after opening the door to Him and welcoming Him into my life a relationship formed. We talk daily, multiple times per day, He is the focus of my thoughts and the topic of my conversations. We’ve become friends, the best of friends, and what was once considered blind faith, is now just faith. I’m no longer blind to Jesus and his Glory, the giver of Grace has freed me from chains of bondage, bondage to self and the ‘things’ of this world. He has restored my vision and I see him just as plainly as I see the words on this page. Gone is the incongruence of knowledge, replaced by trust in God. Whether too much knowledge or too little, the seeds of faith need light and water to grow. He supplies the Light and the seeds; you supply the water. Before long, a sprout forms and pierces the soil, faith blooms for everyone to see. It requires tending and can never be neglected, the fruit; eternal life.
