How Faith Works

By Richard

In John 2 we find faith working in two different directions. Jesus turns 150 gallons of water into 150 gallons of top-notch wine and we read that the disciples seeing Jesus’ power “put their faith in Him”(11). In the next section we read about Jesus being consumed with zeal for God’s house and how He cleared the temple of its merchants and ended up in a showdown with the religious leaders. He tells them that He is able to tear down the temple and rebuild it in 3 days! John adds the note that they later came to understand that Jesus was talking about His death and resurrection.

Basically faith works in two ways. We need to see in order to believe, but we also need to believe in order to see. The disciples saw Jesus at work and believed, but they also believed and came to understand later, Jesus at work. I guess it’s like burning a candle at both ends. Jesus reveals himself and helps us believe, but conversely when we believe things start to make sense too.

So let’s encourage each other to light the candle of faith at both ends. Let’s look for Jesus at work, so our faith may be built up. But, let’s also trust Him entirely and be surprised as piece by piece things come together and the puzzle of faith makes more and more sense.