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The Amish Voice 12
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Years ago when I was young in the faith, I
became enthused about the gospel message
as I understood it more and more. A young
man in my Sunday school class came to me
expressing how he thought I perhaps had
found the
key to faith
. I pondered that be-
cause I had never
thought of faith
having or need-
ing a key. The
Bible says;
Now
faith is the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen.
(Hebrews 11: 1)
You have probably heard people speak of
“blind faith”. I do not believe that faith is
blind. Faith has eyes as surely as we have
natural eyes. Verse 6 of the same chapter
says:
But without faith it is impossible to
please him: for he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder
of them that diligently seek him.
It is clear that faith is the key element in
pleasing God. The Bible tells us that every-
thing was created by the spoken word. Do
you believe that? Look into the night sky and
consider how far away those stars are. They
look so interesting. What are they made of?
They could be made of one solid diamond or
other precious stone. We have no way of
knowing.
The function of the human body is largely
guided by DNA, the instructions that came
with you when you were born. Your unrav-
eled DNA would go to the sun, or even
Pluto, many, many times. There are about six
feet of DNA in every single cell in your
body. Does that not speak of a creator? No
wonder it says that we are “
fearfully and
wonderfully made
” —Psalm 139:14.
Most of us have no problem believing in
creation when we consider the evidence. The
heavens and the earth speak of a creator to
those who have eyes of faith. This I will call
basic faith. This kind of faith is necessary
before we have personal faith, but doesn’t
put self on the line.
Let me illustrate what personal faith looks
like. In 1859 Charles Blondin walked across
Niagara Falls in various modes, one which
involved pushing a wheelbarrow on that
rope. After a successful crossing, he stopped
and addressed his audience: "Do you believe
I can carry a
person across in
this wheelbar-
row?"The crowd
shouted, "Yes,
yes,
yes!
“Okay,”
said
Blondin, “Get in
the
wheelbar-
row!” The
Blondin story is
that no one did!
Now I admit that if I were there I would
not have jumped into that wheelbarrow ei-
ther. Faith would have to be built first. I
would look him in the eye and ask if he was
certain he could do it. The least hesitation
and I would be gone! Then I would ask those
who knew him best if they trusted him com-
pletely and why. All the while I keep the
underlying question in mind; can I place my
trust in him?
If we want to increase our faith in Jesus
Christ, we study His claims to see if they are
true and dependable. Faith is no longer blind,
Get Into the Wheelbarrow!
— by Eli Stutzman
—Continued inside, page 11—