Why Faith? In what? Who?

I wonder how we all seem to be aware that the world is not as it should be. I mean, I would wonder if I didn't already know... but that could be perceived as arrogant, so I'll just wonder for a while.

We're a world full of world-fixers, and while some think fixing the world would be as simple as getting any woman they want, others have broader plans and high hopes for implementing them. "World Peace!" they say on TV and radio. It is written, spoken, implied and illustrated till we laugh as we say it. Yet, it is still our hope as we watch this or that politician ante up with a full portfolio and a plan that could bring unity if only we would agree to follow it. Some world-fixers just ask that there be food, others ask for wealth; some seek contentment, and others power; some seek sameness, and others seek diversity, but we all agree that there's something wrong with the world and that somebody ought to fix it.

I really don't understand how this desire is supposed to have evolved from protoplasm, but we'll leave that curiosity where it stands and move on with fixing the world. One has to try to save the world at least once in life, even if only in theory.

And there we are, all agreeing, but all in disagreement as well. When Christ-followers step into the morass and say, "Faith will set you free!" it's no wonder we're met with rolling eyes or snorts of derision. None of us is more persuasive than the other in a world without absolutes, where every plan to save the world deserves equal consideration.

But there, that becomes rather sticky when someone thinks saving the world means they should have absolute power... then tries to take it! We agree to disagree with people who think we shouldn't disagree with them. But their followers think we're taking the disagreeing thing to far, and really, we'll be glad of having been forced into the great plan for saving the world once we see how much better off the world is. Right? And there are our solutions ... Religion. Government. Philosophy. All have been guilty at one time or another of trying to keelhaul the world into the grand plan. Now, we're suspicious of them all. We're a world of would-be dictators, spiritual leaders, and philosophers without power and we all agree that something should be done.

And so, I am convinced that I cannot persuade anyone that God is real. I am no more nor less opinionated and noisy than all the other millions of opinionated and noisy people out there claiming the opposite. I cannot make anyone seek God. I (alone) have no more nor less power than all the other people out there who have their own opinion of who can save the world, and most of them disagree with me. Besides, they're suspicious of yet another great leader who might take control and destroy the world for his own power. They do not see Him as the great Creator of Love and Justice. They see another opinion in a world of opinions.

But the Bible! Well, it is on paper and parchment, and historically verified as something many have believed for a very long time. But for some alleged authorship by God, and recorded history of belief isn't enough. So what is enough?

What can I do as I face a world of seasoned unbelievers or believers in anything, so long as their own opinion isn't countered. Why speak if I won't be heard? Why ... if it won't save the world?

And yet, we all know there is something better.

I know who that something better is.

I know who will and has saved the world.

I know.

But I don't know because I just decided to believe or because I was brainwashed or because I refuse to face all those other people who know things that seem equally valid to them.

I know because He is a real person who has a real relationship with me, and not only with me but with millions of others. I know because He knows, not because I do.

Whose Spirit reassures me? Whose strength upholds me? Who is wise where I would be foolish? Who is brave where I would hide? Who forces me to face my flaws, then changes them and erases them and uses the process to give me a purpose in encouraging others? Who calls to me in my sleep and guides me in His Word and grows me in spite of my selfishness?

They, the vague mass of those who have not yet listened to the voice of the One of whom I speak, do not believe me.

And so I am faced with the hard choice of talking to an invisible Friend and obeying an invisible King and listening to an inaudible Voice and reading a book written by an all too real group of men that listened and obeyed and talked to this same One. It is no wonder that I am faced with a shrug and a laugh. After all, like everyone else, I have the right to believe what I choose. Right?

Oh, God. I'm so glad it's not up to me to be persuasive enough to be followed over all the other directions cluttering our minds. I'm so glad it's not my job to be more real than everything else. I'm glad it's not I who has to be better than any other idea.

You are the One, the Christ, the Son of God. You are the Voice that calls softly, the Idea that inspires, the Word that changes perspective, the Life that counters death, the Hope that vanquishes hopelessness, the Judge who offers Mercy, the Merciful One who offers Grace by your own payment of our debt for all that's wrong with the world.

I only ask that You help me perceive those who are seeking the One who calls them, and that You will help me to live out a testimony of a relationship with You so they will see what can be and listen as I tell them what You have done for us all, and for me, and for them.