‘I Want to Believe’

I sometimes hear people say something like this: “I want to believe, but I just can’t,” or “I would like to believe, but I just don’t.”  I don’t wish to be critical of such people. I assume their reserve about “faith” comes out of a good-willed desire to be honest about themselves – like someone admitting, “I wish I were a calm, temperate person, but I’m just not.”

So, although I respect the goodwill, I still would wish to ask this person: “What do you think faith is?”  “What do you think having faith is like?”  I fear sometimes that people think “having faith” is the same as “being certain,” or that “having faith” is a feeling you get when you’re sure of something. What if it’s not?  What if it’s something else?  What if it’s like love – not quite a feeling as much as a way of living?

Before we could explore the question of faith, we would need to get clear on something else.  People don’t just “have faith”; they have faith in something.  In God. In God’s love for us. That God’s love for us is expressed and embodied in Christ.  So, we wouldn’t just ask