Blind Faith

“It was like some mysterious, unknown force was driving me on…”

I don’t know about you, but I’ve stumbled upon variants of this phrase time and time again while reading. This type of scene, where the character doesn’t know what’s happening but feels some force leading them towards a destination, seems all too common.

What do they usually do in response? They follow.

Characters put blind faith in an unknown being.

Yet quite often, it seems to work in their favour. Quite often, they succeed. Even though they didn’t know what was impelling them, they followed.

There’s a slight difference, however, when it comes to the real world.

Today if you trusted in something or someone you’ve never heard of before, you’d probably get ripped off. If you listened to the voices bouncing around your head, you probably wouldn’t end up in a great place. All too often we see the consequences of so-called “blind devotion”.

Often, its drawbacks are severe. When we put our stock in something where we don’t have all the facts, trouble will probably follow. I see it all the time nowadays – people hear one so-called bad story about something someone did and instantly dislike them. They do this even when they haven’t heard all the facts.

Blind faith is a hazard.

I won’t cite specific examples, but even in my own church, I’ve seen situations where people put blind trust in someone, instead of listening to what the church itself said.

A couple of years back my church went through some tough times. But what was even sadder was hearing what some people thought. The things they believed simply because one person had told them so.

Blind faith in God shouldn’t be this way.

Ever wonder why there are so, so many church denominations? Let me tell you one of the reasons: people decided to interpret the Bible, Jesus’ life, or something along those lines, in their own way. And others listened. They put their faith in something a few humans told them.

That said, you could say putting faith in Jesus is the same. But Jesus isn’t the same. People today say it’s ridiculous to put “blind faith” in Jesus when we can’t physically see Him. Meanwhile, they have blind faith of their own in something completely ludicrous.

Jesus’ story wasn’t a one-off like people want you to believe. Countless prophets came before Him, who predicted every last detail of His life. Not only that, they did it hundreds of years before He was born.

Trusting Jesus isn’t a blind process.

In fact, there’s hardly anything in this world that’s more certain. Putting my trust in Jesus and following Him has never been a blind journey. The Bible, the entirety of creation, and historical records all make sure of that.

Maybe we can’t see God, but by no means does that make His impact invisible. He is very real to me, and to so many Christians around the world. And no one can argue with the changes I’ve seen in my life and in the lives of those around me because of Him.

Trusting Jesus has nothing to do with blind faith – it’s just faith.