Believing in tomorrow means having faith, so that is where I will start.
I am still relatively new in my walk with Jesus, and I don’t share too much about it because I am still trying to understand my own faith, which means I don’t necessarily feel qualified to tell other people how they should understand theirs. However, I have a perspective that might be important for others to understand. So take it for what you will.
I have met many Christians from childhood through to today who will often lead with the fact that we are all sinners, or with the fact that when the Rapture comes (some say it’s coming soon, but they can’t know) we will go to hell unless we believe in Christ. When I was approached like that as a kid, I just stopped listening. It’s almost like people are mad at God for allowing sin, and they just can’t wait to get out of here, so they try to talk it into existence.
It wasn’t until I was an adult and had a group of friends take a different approach with me; instead of scaring me into faith, they spent time with me. They built a relationship, explained their faith on a deeper level, never pressured me, but patiently waited for me to find it on my own. They showed me how to be a Christian through their words and actions.
The full-court press of faith, I think, misses the most important part about faith: God first makes us in his image, and then we fall. God isn’t waiting for the end because God is everywhere at all times; he focuses on our relationship with him, and he asks other followers to bring more people to him.
Yes, we are all fallen, and we do bad things, but we also do good things, and I think it’s reasonable to argue that our purpose is to glorify God by doing good. That’s what we want for our kids as parents, and that’s what God wants for his children as well. He even came to us in human form to give us a chance. A relationship with Christ gives us the ability to walk the path we have chosen because he chose it for us. He believes in us even when we don’t believe in ourselves.
Jesus already knows we are sinners, and he offers forgiveness anyway. He also asks that we do the same for others. Sin matters, of course, but so does what we do after we sin. He doesn’t want us to give up and settle for the end; he wants us to keep going and bring others.
When I was part of the secular world, I complained a lot (still do; I will never be perfect). People like the old me often complain loudly when an institution fails us. Maybe your flight is delayed, or your cell service is out, and people use these momentary failures of modern miracles as a reason to cast the entire institution as a failure.
Louis C.K. has a great bit about this. He talks about people complaining about Wi-Fi service and says, “Could you give it a second? It’s going to space!” We laugh because his voice does that thing when it goes soft, low, and then angry, high, but also because it’s true. When you actually stop and think about it, it is absurd that we have Wi-Fi at all. When it isn’t working for a minute, and you are furious about the failure of a device that can communicate with someone on the OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD. (Imagine it in Louis C.K.’s voice) Funny right?
America has gotten comfortable. Maybe a little entitled. We are quick to throw something away. It makes me think about divorce. There are obviously very legitimate reasons to end a marriage, and I don’t mean to dismiss those. But I do wonder if marriages end in part because it has become easier to take the easy way out. At least we think it’s the easy way at the time. If something isn’t working, we leave. If an institution disappoints us, we abandon it. If something is broken, we replace it. I wrote about how appliance companies structure us to be this way a little while back.
While I didn’t grow up in faith with Jesus, I did watch a lot of sports. I liked rooting for the underdog. I cheered for the player who never gave up. I understood that they were probably going to lose; they might win, and when they did, it was awesome.
I watched the Miracle on Ice over and over again on VHS. I once saw Mark Brunell hit Santana Moss twice in under two minutes to beat the Cowboys. And… the most important sports memory of my youth was watching the Red Sox come back from down 3–0 to the Yankees, finally break the curse, and go on to sweep the Cardinals in the WS.
What happened to that America? The one where a bunch of IDIOTS from Boston defeat an empire. What happened to our faith in tomorrow, and in ourselves?
Americans love stories about people who refused to give up. We love the Miracle on Ice because we want to be better at everything we can, even when it’s not our strong suit. We always remember the comebacks more than the blowouts. Sports fans of the day remember Frank Reich’s Wild Card comeback over the Oilers, but fewer people remember Dan Marino getting blown out by the Jags. We want to be good, we want to survive, and even if we can’t, we want to watch others do it. We keep fighting even when the reasonable thing to do would be to quit, and when we can’t keep going, we admire those who can.
But increasingly, Americans aren’t thinking this way. Many want to eliminate the American republican system in some way or another because of its recent failures, but they fail to recognize the miracle it took to create it and have it last for 250 years.
Like all institutions embodied by people, of course it fails sometimes. The amazing thing is how often it doesn’t. And this brings me back to faith. Self-government takes faith. We must have faith in our fellow man to reason and work for a better tomorrow. Lose faith, and nothing works. Have faith and things work most of the time, not because faith guarantees success, but because people want to be good, and when they have a path they believe in, they can achieve more than they fail.
Jesus has faith in us all, and because we are fallen, we won’t have the strength of faith he does. But that doesn’t mean our faith can’t be stronger. Jesus taught with Scripture and his actions. Jesus believes in us. He doesn’t want us to only have faith in him; he wants us to have faith in each other. And he tells us over and over again. With his words.
Matthew 22:39: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” John 15:12: “Love each other as I have loved you.” And then he goes even further in Matthew 5:44: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
And with his actions. As he is being crucified, Jesus says, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34
I don’t think having faith in each other is the same thing as loving each other, but is it possible to love our neighbor while having absolutely no faith in their ability to be good? This doesn’t mean we have to believe in institutions, countries, or even ourselves the same way Jesus believes in us. Faith doesn’t mean believing only in what is perfect. Sometimes believing in something is why we are willing to admit it is broken. We fix it because we believe it is worth fixing. America used to have faith, and we need to start asking if we can once again.
Peace & Love,
Jeff Mayhugh
A couple of decades of disappointment will lower people’s hopes.