Why is Faith so Hard?

You Bet Your Life!

The high wire feats of daredevil Charles Blondin in the 19th century are legendary.  They would be difficult to believe, if there hadn't been witnesses!  Like the time he crossed Niagara Falls.

On June 30th, 1859, Blondin didn't just walk the wire above the deadly falls, he did it with a man on his back.

Every time he walked the rope, he asked the crowd if they believed he could do it, and they enthusiastically agreed.  When he asked if they thought he could carry a man on his back while walking the tightrope--1,100 feet across, 160 feet above the river--the crowd said "Yes."

That day Harry Colcord got a piggy back ride on Blondin across the mighty Niagara Falls!  The crowd had believed Blondin could do it.  But Colcord bet his life on it.

 

Faith Defanged

The concept of biblical faith has been defanged in our age.  It is possible to believe many or most of the fundamental teachings of the Bible, actually live out none of them, and still believe that you believe!  For those people the title of this article is a little confusing.  Faith isn't hard for them, because they haven't bet their life on it.

A radical disconnection has occurred between faith and life.

Faith in Christ will save you, through his death on the cross.  But this faith is much more than a casually held set of assumptions; it produces a new love, a new devotion.

When we lived for ourselves, we loved ourselves and were devoted to ourselves.  When we trust Christ, we become devoted to him and his ways.  This requires the faith of a Harry Colcord, to jump on Jesus' back and trust that he can get us to the other side.

Maybe trust is a better word than faith; it still carries the idea of depending on Christ for our lives.  The Christian life is not just entered by faith, it is lived by faith every day.  Paul the Apostle said in Galatians 2:20 that the life we live is by faith in Christ.

 

Why is This So Hard?

Trusting Jesus becomes a challenge when we want to take revenge against someone who wronged us, or when we want to promote ourselves, or when we don't want to be generous with our money, or when we fall back into trusting our own goodness to make us acceptable to God.

In other words, every temptation to sin is a temptation to disbelieve the gospel, to disbelieve that God cares, that he sees what's going on, that Jesus is enough.  Every sin results from a lack of faith in some aspect of the gospel.  You may never have seen faith in this light before, but this is central to what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

Faith is so hard because sin is so tempting.

The next time you are tempted, remind yourself that you are being tempted to distrust Christ.  Just saying those words is powerful: "Lord, I'm tempted not to trust you right now."

And ask him in that moment for the strength to believe that he is enough.  Bet your life on it--every day.