Simple Faith

In an open discussion with some missionaries the other day, one of them was marveling at the simple faith that was displayed by the natives to the area they are blessed to witness to. The wife went on and on about how it was so refreshing to see people who believed in God only because He was God, not because they had scientific evidence to support or refute the things of the Bible.

During my college studies, I took a religion class (because it was required!) and learned a lot about the culture of the times, the history of the era and all of the ins and outs of what surrounded the Biblical time frame. I was made aware of how different translations may make some passages seem askew to what the actual essence of the text was meant to be. It gave me a good base of KNOWLEDGE, but didn’t strengthen my faith.

The simple faith the missionary spoke of is the one I seek now. It is the goal I hope to achieve with my love of Christ. I want to love Him because of the fact that He is my Lord and Savior, not because some Biblical scholars have ‘proven’ that they have found the exact location where he was born, or there is some sort of physical evidence that makes His existence real.

My 13 year old nephew Jerimy is blessed with Down’s Syndrome. Jerimy attends church with us from time to time and loves what he finds there. Jerimy will never know the scientific reasons why he should like to go to church. He will never completely comprehend all the deeper truths that are found in the Bible. He may never even be able to conquer READING the bible (it has been a difficult accomplishment for me!). Jerimy won’t even seek to understand all the inner trappings of religion and theology. Jerimy’s faith isn’t deliberate, it just IS.

Jerimy loves his church, his home, his Grammy and his spiderman action figure all the same. He loves them all fully, without hesitation or reservation. He has simple faith. He loves, because it is his nature to love. It is right to love. The simpleness of his genetic design allows him to have a connection to God and life that escapes the ‘thinkers’.

Our society wants an explanation and proof for everything. In trying to do so, we engage is controversy and debate- which is contrary to the teachings of Christ, not linear to His desire for our lives. I believe that Jesus wants us to approach him in faith and love as an emotional, soulful act, not a mental one. He desires our presence cloaked in simple faith. I aspire to achieve that, because I want to enter the gates of Heaven and stand beside Jerimy in eternity because I know he will be there based on his simple faith. Our brains will not get us there, our hearts will.