Declare and believe are not the same
Dr. Roberto Miranda
SUMMARY: Blondin, a tightrope walker, asked a boy if he believed he could push a person in a wheelbarrow across Niagara Falls without falling. The boy said yes, and Blondin told him to get in the wheelbarrow. This story teaches us that it's not enough to just say we have faith; we must have a deep conviction and spiritual maturity in our belief. The true posture of faith is like a womb where God's miracles can take place, and we must believe that God is faithful and rewards those who seek Him.
An immense crowd was watching the famous tightrope walker Blondin cross Niagara Falls one day in 1860. He crossed numerous times — a thousand-foot crossing, 160 feet above the stormy waters. And not only did it cross; He did it by pushing a wheelbarrow. A child watched the feat with obvious amazement. At one of those crossings, Blondín looked at the boy and asked him: "Do you think I could cross a person inside the truck without falling"? "Yes, sir," replied the boy. "I'm sure if". To which Blondín replied: "Then get on, son!"
It is one thing to declare with your mouth that we believe. It is another thing to believe enough to act on the confession we have made. Often times, our godly statements lack the depth and definition necessary to qualify as faith. When the disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith, the Lord replied, "If you had faith like a mustard seed, you could say to this sycamore: Get uprooted, and plant yourself in the sea; and it would obey you" (Luke 17: 5). In other words, for Jesus, the disciples didn't have even the little faith that they thought they had!
We have to ask the Lord to bring our mental and generic belief to a state of deep conviction and spiritual maturity that allows it to qualify as true faith. Our weak affirmations of faith have to reach that state of which the writer of Hebrews speaks: "Now faith is the certainty of what is hoped for, the conviction of what is not seen" (Hebrews 11: 1).
The true posture of faith is the womb within which the Lord's miracles can take place. There must be an open and expectant womb so that the life of God can be engendered in our being. It is important that if we draw near to God, we believe that He is faithful, and that He rewards and rewards those who seek Him.
It is one thing to declare with your mouth that we believe. It is another thing to believe enough to act on the confession we have made. Often times, our godly statements lack the depth and definition necessary to qualify as faith. When the disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith, the Lord replied, "If you had faith like a mustard seed, you could say to this sycamore: Get uprooted, and plant yourself in the sea; and it would obey you" (Luke 17: 5). In other words, for Jesus, the disciples didn't have even the little faith that they thought they had!
We have to ask the Lord to bring our mental and generic belief to a state of deep conviction and spiritual maturity that allows it to qualify as true faith. Our weak affirmations of faith have to reach that state of which the writer of Hebrews speaks: "Now faith is the certainty of what is hoped for, the conviction of what is not seen" (Hebrews 11: 1).
The true posture of faith is the womb within which the Lord's miracles can take place. There must be an open and expectant womb so that the life of God can be engendered in our being. It is important that if we draw near to God, we believe that He is faithful, and that He rewards and rewards those who seek Him.
