Unknown...

"For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you." -Acts 17:23

"Why do you find it so hard to believe?" "Why do you find it so easy?" "It's never been easy! It's a leap of faith Jack." -John Locke and Jack Shephard, Lost

Faith in God is a hard thing to come by sometimes. I'm a youth pastor at a big church in Fort Worth, Texas and I think faith can be a hard thing to find. You ever felt that way? Maybe you have believed since you could form words and play with Lincoln Logs. Maybe you have struggled with this thing called faith since you heard about the idea of God. Maybe you want nothing to do with faith in a God of any kind.

Well, you're not alone in that, whichever "that" you find yourself in.

Sometimes it's hard for people who have believed their whole lives to understand people who don't want anything to do with God. Or better yet, it's hard to fathom that there are people who believe but have questions and doubts.

I love the way the author of Hebrews describes faith. "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for." It is HARD sometimes to believe in something we can't hear, or taste, or touch, or tweet at. Heck, Thomas, a DISCIPLE, had a hard time believing Jesus was who he said he was a couple of days after Jesus had been crucified.

We are all looking for something to believe in. We all have faith in something. For some that faith lies in God. For others, it's their country. Others still, their family or their job. The point is we all have faith, the question is in what.

A lot of people today fall into the category: "spiritual but not religious." There is an inkling there is something bigger going on, but to define it in Christian, or any other religion's, terms is too strong a leap. Some call it fate. Others destiny. Still others karma. The ancient Greeks were the same way.
The Greeks were incredibly religious people with deities for all occasions. They were full of faith. When Paul came to town talking about some one God and His son it was different, and the Athenians didn't know how to handle it, so they asked him to share.

In the book of Acts Paul walks up to an altar in Athens dedicated to AN UNKNOWN GOD. So Paul decides to fill in the unknown for the Athenians. "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands... For in him we live and move and have our very being."

The Athenians had an idea that there was more to the world than what they could see and feel. They had faith. Paul took that faith and put flesh to it. 

That can be hard though. Most of us can feel like the Athenians sometimes. Whether we call ourselves Christian or not, the idea of a God who is infinite and beyond measure just seems... unknown. It can be hard to have faith in a God like that.

But I'm thankful for people like Paul, who do have that boundless faith in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Just a few weeks ago I was talking with one of the teenagers in my youth group and he asked me a question.

"Martin," he said. "I know people are supposed to have questions and doubt. But what if I don't? What if I just believe that God has a plan for things and that He's working it out? What if I don't have any doubts God exists?"

Holy trust Batman! My response was nowhere near as perfect. "You are incredibly blessed if you can believe like that. It's a rare gift to have that faith. And it may be lonely. But that faith can inspire people and it can be a light in the world."

Not all of us have that kind of faith. Maybe what we do believe about God is just hanging by a thread. But if you do, share it. Let it inspire others who need more patience and for whom believing takes all the effort they have. And let our faith bear fruits that are so sweet that others will want to share them.

There's a great story at the end of the movie Angels in the Outfield. A teenage boy prays that God will help the team win so that his family can get back together. Well, God answers and angels start to help out. And the team starts winning. The boy, Roger, tells the manager of the team and let's him know when Angels are there to help. Afraid of looking like a loon, Coach Knox decides it's best to keep the presence of angels a secret. But of course the secret gets out.

Forced to deny the existence of angels at the games or risk being fired, a press conference is called. When the critical question is asked, Maggie, Roger's foster parent stands up. "Every kid I've ever taken care of has been looking for someone to love, an angel. You've gotta have faith. You've gotta believe. You've gotta look inside yourself. The footprints of an angel are love. And where there is love miraculous things can happen. I've seen it."

If you've found faith, don't hold it in. Let it shine. As Maggie said, let your love be the footprints of faith, the tangible evidence of a God beyond understanding. People don't need to hear A story of God. They need YOUR story of God.

And if you're looking for it, don't give up. You're not alone. It is hard, and sometimes the journey towards faith may seem hopeless. Maybe you're convinced this God thing is a big sham. But if there's an inkling in your stomach that there is something more, don't let that nudge die. If your faith is holding onto nothing more than a thread and the doubts are overwhelming, I am praying for you. Ask your questions. Name your doubts. And pray that God might bring answers, or quiet your apprehensions.

"Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." May you find it.

forever unfinished...