Friday 18 January 2013

The Tiny Line Between Faith and Foolishness



Someone once told me that there is a thin line between Faith and Foolishness. I could not agree with him then but I have grown to know the statement is true. In order words, in one's attempt to apply faith, one could end up being foolish. Now, as Christians, let us not misconstrue this foolishness to the fact of the world thinking we are foolish for believing in the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. The foolishness being referred here is that resulting either from ignorance or failure to utilize discretion.

The emphasis is not on appearing foolish, but actually acting foolishly. A typical example is engaging in premarital sex then praying and hoping that God will cause you not to be pregnant. This is ridiculous because a drop of semen contains millions of sperms that have been assigned one sole responsibility of getting you pregnant.

Paul, as a new believer and disciple (Acts 9:22), grew in strength and even ended up confounding the Jews at Damascus by proving to them that indeed Jesus is the Christ. However, no matter how strong Paul became in faith, he and the other disciples did not make fool of themselves when they learned that the Jews had planned to kill Paul (see Acts 9:24).

What did they do? They applied wisdom! The scripture says:
"Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket" - Acts 9:25.

Obviously, what happened in Acts 9:25 above, is not an act of faith but that of wisdom. The disciples could have thought that because they are Christians with a strong faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the death threat by the Jews in Damascus is but a mere joke. Instead, they took the threat seriously and applied discretion. I am particularly glad that this scripture is recorded in the book of ACTS, it clearly shows that we as Christians in our generation must learn this act of wisdom to complement our faith in Jesus Christ.

Faith does not come to replace our senses and I believe to walk successfully in faith, we must know the times and seasons. Just as there is time and season for everything under the Heavens (Ecclesiastes 3:1), there is also a time to apply faith and a time to apply wisdom. Thus, we must not be overly enthused with our faith in God that we fail to use our senses when we have to. Shalom!

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