Crazy Faith
Crazy Faith
WHEN WE PUT our full faith and trust in God, amazing things happen. I’m talking about the Hebrews 11:1, real, genuine, authentic kind of faith. We can come up with our own definition, but the Bible has defined it for us well. The New Living Translation says that “faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen.” It’s not wishful thinking. It’s total confidence in God. It’s the kind of trust that Peter used to describe how he could be confident despite suffering. He said in 2 Timothy 1:12, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto Him against that day.” That persuasion—that belief—is an uncondi- tional surrender of the heart and full reliance on God. Do we have it?
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When we read verses like 2 Timothy 1:12 and give them serious thought, the attitude displayed by many of the people in Scripture seems somewhat ludicrous today, maybe even crazy. And yet, when we look at what God did in their lives, it took that kind of extraordinary faith in an extraordinary God to see extraordinary things happen. Maybe that is why we see few things that we would define as “extraordinary” today. We’ve become so accustomed to the mundane and ordinary. We’ve settled for half-hearted faith. Yet it’s that Crazy Faith that makes all the difference.
Part of the challenge of living in America is the blessing of living in America. When we are blessed, we have need of nothing. When we have need of nothing, we aren’t required to use as much faith. Because we can be our own provider, we’ve “got this.” Part of the reason friends of mine have given up on the church and walked away is because they’ve never seen a life of Crazy Faith modeled for them. Why not? They’ve seen American faith instead. It’s not until we can’t fix something or get something done that we exercise Crazy Faith. Perhaps a crisis takes us to that point. Something has to be beyond our control in order for us to find that we remain totally dependent on God.
Back in the early 1990s, I experienced something like this that blew me away. I was in full-time ministry. My dear friend Jack and I were struggling. Both of us were recent newlyweds and both of us had one-car families. While juggling ministry trips and home life, we needed additional transportation, which neither of us could afford. We didn’t know anyone else who could help us. Although we had been praying about it together and with our wives, we hadn’t really shared our need with anyone else.
One day, a friend named Charlie gave us a call and said, “I’d like for the two of you to drive over to my home today if you have a minute.” We knew Charlie fairly well, but we didn’t talk that often. In fact, we hadn’t talked in some time. When we arrived at his home, his wife greeted us at the door. “Come on in!”
We entered and followed her into the living room, where she motioned for us to take a seat. We did.
Charlie joined us with a smile and a hug. “Tell me about what God is doing with you guys and your ministry.”
We shared for a while, and he asked if we had any needs right now. We talked a bit, and I really don’t know if we even said anything about needing a car.
He stood up. “Come outside with me.”
We walked outside, and he pulled some keys out of his pocket. “Guys, God has blessed us, and we seem to have two more cars than we do drivers here at our house. My wife and I have been praying, and God told us to give each of you one of these cars.” He pointed at a 1980-something Honda Prelude and a 1980-something Honda CRX. “Now, obviously they aren’t new. But they run well. They’re Hondas, so they have room for another hundred-thousand miles or so. They’ve been serviced, and I’d like for you to have them. You guys can pick who gets which one.”
My friend and I stood there, speechless. Wow! We had been praying. We had exercised crazy faith that God would meet our need. And we trusted God had our backs and that He would provide. We hadn’t told anyone that we could really use another car, and here was one person taking care of both our needs. I remember pulling out of his long, gravel driveway with tears streaming down my face and thanking God for looking out for me.
Sometimes I forget what it means to live by Crazy Faith. Looking back, I treasure those times. I want more of them in my life. Honestly, I want every day to be a day of Crazy Faith. I know that when I live with total surrender to God, I see him do things that blow my socks off!
If you are ready to live with that kind of faith, I want to encourage you by sharing some stories of other people who were tired of mundane, half-hearted faith and took the leap of Crazy Faith.