What Does Faith Do?

The following words were published in the weekly bulletin of my church in Sydney, Australia:

Some people think that if you have enough faith, life will be plain sailing for you.

This of course is not true. The fact that you can swim doesn't give you control over the sea. It doesn't prevent you from getting knocked about. In some way, faith doesn't shield us from the hard knocks of life or death.

What then does faith do?

It enables us to live in a topsy-turvey world without getting lost or giving in to despair. It gives us bearings.

Just us swimmers trust that if they don't panic and if they do a few simple things, then the power of the sea will uphold them. So, believers entrust their lives to a power greater than themselves, a power greater than us all.

That's very true.