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[[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/de/jn_de_2018_01_03|Deutsche Version]] [[Start|| Wiki Start]]
[[topics_collection_ix|| Topics Collection ix ]]
====== Faith - not Blind but with Open Eyes! ... ======
Wednesday, Jan 3, 2018. "Rachel, I will pick you up after your meeting at 11pm," said Thomas.
"Just walk down the road, cross the footbridge and I will be waiting there on the other side
with my car." When Rachel walked
down the road later that day, it was dark already, and somehow Rachel felt uneasy. What if Thomas
would not be there? She felt a little lost alone in a foreign city. But she knew she could trust
Thomas, and so she walked a little faster looking forward to meeting her friend.
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** With open Eyes ...**
Trust is something which needs a sound basis. Rachel knew her friend Thomas, and she knew she
could trust him. She had faith in him, that he would wait for her at the other side of the bridge.
Her faith was not a blind faith, but it was a faith based on experience, based on facts.
Too often, people think of faith as some general guessing. They think that someone who has faith
is believing a statement which he does not know. But the faith which the bible describes is not
like this. It is not guessing. It is not a conjecture. It is much more like the faith of Rachel
in our story: based on friendship. Christian faith is based on insight and experience. Nothing
less is needed.
You are not asked to believe blindly! You are asked to open your eyes and see. You are asked to
listen, to understand, and then when you get to know God, you are asked to trust him. The New
Testament is about light, about the miracle of healing blind eyes. It is about gaining insight
into this world, into God being there, above it, behind it, in it, everywhere. We are asked
to open our eyes and see!
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** See and Trust ...**
There is still a step between insight and trust. You can know someone is a friend, but still not
live the trust. And you can make a decision to trust someone. That might be in a particular situation,
like Rachel who trusts Thomas to pick her up at the other side of the bridge.
The bible talks about trust in an even deeper way. She talks about trusting God with our whole
life, with all what we are, what makes us valuable, what gives us hope and goals, with our whole
existence. Biblical faith is this deep trust, which gives your life into the hands of God. You do
not need anything else than him - he is the creator anyway. He is your heavenly father, the one
who was there from the beginning, and the one who will be there when time comes to an end.
This biblical trust, which Jesus is asking for, is a whole life style. It is a complete mode of
existence. It is a whole world by itself. It is easy to enter: we are asked to trust God like a
little kid trusts its parents. Come to God like the kids do, they have open hearts to trust and
to build relationships to people. And then learn and love him with all what you have, with all
your heart, your mind and your soul.
(Roland Potthast)
[[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/en/topics_collection_ix|... further texts]]