Faith Leap

Excerpt taken from Faith Leap: So, Why Do You Believe That? by Bill Yeargin

 

Chapter 8
Faith Leap

So far in this book, we have considered what I call layers of evidence that have been important to me as I consider an intellectual foundation for my belief in Jesus. But there still is a problem; nowhere in the Bible does it say that an intellectual understanding of Jesus or Christianity makes a person a Christian. Becoming a Christian requires belief or faith.

Why Doesn’t God Just Appear?

Years ago, a man asked me why God, if He was real, didn’t tell everyone personally that He exists. Couldn’t He call a global meeting and speak to us from the sky, telling us we should all be Christians? He felt like God was trying to make it hard on us by being unclear. I told him that I believed God had left us plenty of evidence—as mentioned by the apostle Paul in Romans chapter 1—some of which I have tried to share in this book.

“They know the truth about God because He has
made it obvious to them. For ever since the world
was created, people have seen the earth and sky.
Through everything God made, they can clearly see
His invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine
nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.”
Romans 1:19-20 (NLT)

Faith Pleases God

God wants us to have faith; it is what pleases Him. He doesn’t want us to be robots forced to worship Him. In the 11th chapter of the New Testament book of Hebrews, the Bible says it is impossible to please God without faith. That’s right; it does not say it is impossible to please God without following specific rules, giving money, or attending church. The book of Hebrews clearly says it is impossible to please God without faith.

“. . . it is impossible to please God without faith.”
Hebrews 11:6 (NLT)

So what is faith? Also, in the 11th chapter of Hebrews, the writer states that faith is having assurance of what we cannot see. Everything I have written in this book is about evidence we can see or understand, and it doesn’t require faith to believe what we can see or understand. There is nothing wrong with having an intellectual foundation for our faith, but that intellectual foundation is not faith. And as we noted above, it is faith that pleases God.

“Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the
evidence of things we cannot see.” Hebrews 11:1 (NLT)

If God appeared in the sky or appeared to any of us personally, we would no longer need faith. If that happened, we would be losing what pleases God and makes us Christians. And, who knows, God appearing to us might just be more than our earthly minds could handle.

So how do people get confused about the importance of faith? It is because many people don’t understand how a relationship with God can be based on faith; they think they need to do something.

“For we live by believing, and not by seeing.”
2 Corinthians 5:7 (NLT)

It’s Faith, Not Our Works

If you went to your local shopping mall and surveyed several people who consider themselves Christian, most of them would say that they are Christian because they try to be good, they don’t hurt people, they give money to a worthy group, their grandpa was a pastor, or any number of other reasons related to what they do or someone in their family did. The Bible is very clear that being a Christian is not about our own efforts but about having a relationship with God.

“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And
you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have
done, so none of us can boast about it.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 (NLT)

Jesus Himself addressed this directly when the Pharisee Nicodemus approached Him. That meeting between Jesus and Nicodemus led to John recording the words of Jesus in what many consider to be the most well-known verse of the Bible.

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one
and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will
not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 (NLT)

So being a Christian is not about anything related to our efforts; we just need faith in Jesus. While there is plenty of evidence that Jesus is God—as I have tried to describe in this book—it still takes a faith leap to become a Christian. A faith leap is believing in God, even without complete evidence. It requires deciding to trust Jesus and follow Him despite any uncertainties we may have. It is still normal to have questions; lots of Christians do, but the faith leap is believing and trusting God regardless of any remaining intellectual questions.

The Faith Leap

A faith leap is a moment of belief and commitment that goes beyond any intellectual understanding. A faith leap recognizes that our minds are limited, and we may not understand everything until we reach heaven. The faith leap may even feel a little irrational—I have had many people tell me it can’t be that easy, it must include our works—but it doesn’t. It is about faith, not our works or intellectual understanding.

Some recognize the evidence but don’t have faith; they say it is impossible to prove God and they often end up as agnostics. However, again, if we can fully prove God, we don’t need faith, which is what most pleases God. God wants us to have faith.

Faith Versus Intellect

Charles Blondin is history’s most well-known tightrope walker. A Frenchman, Blondin developed an international reputation for his feats and spent a fair bit of time in the U.S. performing, most notably tightrope walking over Niagara Falls. As part of Blondin’s routine he would walk across the falls once by himself and then push a wheelbarrow across. After he went across a couple of times, he would ask the crowd if they thought he could carry someone across on his back. The people watching went wild, cheering with confidence in him. Then he would ask who wanted to volunteer to be the one he carried across the falls on the tightrope and the crowd became quiet. They intellectually thought Blondin could do it but having the faith to be carried across was another step. God wants us to have faith.

Just to Be Clear

So for complete clarity, what is the faith leap? The faith leap is looking at the evidence and realizing that while plenty exists, faith in Jesus is still required to be a Christian. And then, more importantly, it requires moving away from a purely intellectual pursuit and trusting God.

I hope my perspective, as I share in this book, may be compelling to you. Or it may not be enough. No one—certainly not me—is smart enough to provide an intellectual argument that will appeal to everyone with absolute certainty. But my hope is that you have heard enough evidence so far in this book to be comfortable making the faith leap yourself.

Summary

• Numerous layers of evidence provide us with an intellectual foundation for our faith.
• However, we don’t become a Christian through an intellectual understanding; doing so requires faith.
• Faith in Jesus not only provides our path to being a Christian; it also is the path to pleasing God.

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