miles away. This definition of faith
makes sense: if you love someone,
you have faith in that person and you
either believe in his or her abilities or
are willing to extend a chance. You
are willing to have faith that he or she
will come back when you say goodbye.
Faith is entirely dependent on love.
In a larger context, you cannot
have faith in God unless you love God.
This also is where some of us fall short,
for true love of God is dependent on
a new understanding of God. This is
where the teachings of the New Church
are very important: they make God
understandable for those who depend
on a full understanding of Scripture to
believe. (See Arcana Coelestia 3236)
For New Church men and women,
it is not enough just to believe; it is
not enough to take someone else’s word for it. Like Thomas, the doubting
disciple who did not believe it was the Lord who was standing before him after
crucifixion and resurrection – so much so that he had to place his fingers in
the wounds still present in the Lord’s resurrected body – we need to understand
the nature of God.
To be spiritual we want to understand the connection between God and
all things in nature, and we want to understand how God is present in us,
and in each other. Especially in the New Church we want to understand the
relationship between the historical Jesus and the Divine human of the Lord,
who is present with us in each moment of our lives.
It is not enough just to believe. We need to touch the Lord with our minds,
probe His wounds with our understanding, and be moved to change when we
understand His work of Redemption, so that when the Lord appears before the
eyes of our spirits we can be true believers and declare, as Thomas did: “My
Lord and my God.” (John 20:28)
Real faith is dependent upon love, but it possesses us when we are
separated from love, as day is separated from the night. We can begin to see
faith when we have to look within to find the answers. Even when we don’t see
the way things will work out for the good, even when we don’t expect things
to work out, and even when we don’t think things will ever work out again, to
have faith means that we believe the Lord can make it possible, and we believe
Our church movement
. . . owes its allegiance
in some part to the
men and women who
not only understood
the Writings, but loved
the Lord in them,
devoting their lives and
fortunes to the task
of seeing our church
developed and nurtured
throughout the world.
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