Swimming with Sharks?
Last fall Alisha & I got to take our kids to Disney World for the first time. I’ll never forget mid-way through our trip me & Will really wanted to go to the water park. We hit the wave pool then did some water slides. We got into the lazy river & made our way around the park.
Then we saw a sign for something called Shark Reef. We got in line & when we got up to the window the guy was handing out snorkeling masks. I was like, “What is this?” To which he replied, “You get to swim with sharks!” Immediately Will bailed out of that line. “Nope… we’re not doing that!” The guy said, “Just go over there & watch people do it. You’ll see. It’s really cool.” So we head over to the observation deck & believe it or not, people are willingly pushing off the shore into ice cold water to swim with sharks. There’s a lady next to us telling us how amazing it is. I said, “Come on Will, we can do this.” He’s like — “You can do this! Why would I willing jump into water with sharks?” “Because it’s awesome! Come on…”
I kept trying to convince him to come & do it, & finally… well, I’ll tell you the rest in a minute.
Let me ask you this question first…
What do you think about when you think about faith?
I think for many of us, we think faith is believing in something or someone even when it doesn’t seem logical. So we have faith in people to come through for us. We have faith our team will win. We have faith that things are going to work out. And generally speaking, this idea of faith serves us well. And whenever people let us down, our team loses or things don’t work out… it makes it harder for us to have faith in the same person or the same thing next time.
For those of us who grew up in church, we grew up with a definition of faith that said, “Now faith (noun) is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Hebrews 11.1
And so for a lot of us, Christian or not, faith begins & ends with belief.
The only problem with this idea is that it falls painfully short of what faith looks like in the Bible, specifically in the gospel of John.
If you’ve ever struggled with faith, then you’re not alone.
There is a story in John 11 about a time when faith in Jesus was in serious question. And to be honest, His ability was in question. His compassion. His character. His timing. I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed this pattern, but whenever your faith is shaken is simultaneously the same moment when you begin to doubt everything you ever believed about Jesus. And that’s what happens here.
[Tweet “When our faith is shaken we often begin to doubt everything we believed about Jesus. #havefaith”]When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days. Bethany was only a few miles down the road from Jerusalem, and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss. When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.”
Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.”
“Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.”
Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”
[Tweet “I am the resurrection and the life. – Jesus”]Right here we have maybe the most important question in John’s gospel. Martha runs out to meet Jesus when she hears that he’s coming down the road. She had faith that Jesus could have healed her brother if He had gotten there in time, but now that Lazarus is dead all hope is lost. But Jesus wants to see how far Martha’s faith can take her. It seems like all faith is lost. Like all hope is lost. But it’s not. Because even when it seems like there’s no hope, there’s always hope for those who believe in Jesus. Even when it seems like the story has come to an end, nothing is ever final for those who believe in Jesus. So He asks Martha, “Do you believe?”
[Tweet “Even when it seems like there’s no hope, there’s always hope for those who believe in Jesus.”]And this question is more than… do you have faith? In fact, in the gospel of John the noun form of the word faith is never used. In every place you find the word for faith, it’s always in the verb form. Ninety-eight times John uses the verb faith in his gospel! So Jesus’ question is not just, do you believe? Do you have faith? His question is more like, Are you believing? Are you faithing?
It’s the difference between believing something is possible & the activity of stepping out into it.
It’s the difference between believing you can swim with sharks and actually getting into the water, putting your face in & looking at the sharks swimming beneath you.
Faith as a noun is complete trust or confidence in someone or something. I have faith in God.
Faith as a verb is the activity of trusting & believing in someone or something. I am faithing in God.
It’s the difference between believing that Jesus will one day be the resurrection & the life to believing he is the resurrection & the life NOW!
It’s right here, in the middle of her crisis. In the middle of her confusion. In the middle of her doubt that Martha moves from faith to faithing. From believing something is impossible to believing that nothing is impossible with Jesus.
Listen to Martha’s response…
“Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.” John 11.27
Martha makes a move in the middle of an impossible situation to decide & declare what she believes is true. That Jesus is exactly who He says He is & that nothing is beyond His power or His ability.
[Tweet “The activity of faith is deciding & declaring what we believe in the face of the impossible.”]Up to this point she had questioned His timing. She had questioned His response to her request. She had questioned His power! His apparent care, concern & action for his friend & her brother, Lazarus. And Jesus has a simple question for her & a simple question for us. You can almost here the compassion in His voice as He asks the question, “Martha, do you believe?”
So, how is your faith today?
Jesus reminds us to believe even when believing seems impossible. To have faith even when faith seems so far away.
My fear is that all to often we say we have faith in Jesus but it’s really faith in our ourselves, in our own power & our own ability. We say we have faith in God but in reality we do it all. We depend on our own resources, our own power, our own intellect, our own ability, our own talent… we might briefly word a prayer to God for help but then we act like it’s all up to us. And it’s only when we hit these moments of crisis when we realize we have no control, we have no power, we have no talent or ability to fix the situation that we then turn to Jesus.
It’s only when Lazarus dies that Martha moves from faith to faithing. And it may only be when you hit rock bottom that you can move from faith to faithing too. From the noun to the verb. From the idea of faith to the activity of faith.
And if you’re in the middle of a situation right now where you’re at the end of your rope, where your own power & ability, your own talent & resources have taken you as far as they can take you then here’s the good news… you’re ready! You’re ready to move from faith to faithing. You’re ready to stop pretending like it’s all up to you & start realizing it’s all up to God. You’re ready to stop looking at the water & you’re ready to dive in with Jesus & experience what it’s like to swim with the sharks. You’re ready to really start living.
Maybe it’s time to join with Martha & say…
“Yes, Lord, I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.” John 11.27
Because there’s nothing outside the power & ability of Jesus of Nazareth. Believe.
May our “Yes I believe” move us from THINKING about to LIVING into FAITHING Jesus.
[Tweet “May our “Yes I believe” move us from THINKING about to LIVING into FAITHING Jesus. “]I know its bad grammar, but its my prayer for us… that we would make the move from THINKING about to LIVING into FAITHING Jesus!
Having faith in Jesus in impossible situations is what defines our lives & sets us a part in this world. There comes a time when we have to decide & declare what we believe. This is the activity of faith.
That day at the Disney World water park, somehow, I still don’t know how, but I convinced my son Will to do it. To go back & get in line. To put on the life vest, the goggles & the snorkel. To wade out into ice cold water & push off. To put our faces down & to wonder & marvel at the beauty of the sharks, the sting rays, the beautiful fish & the coral below.
He would have never done it if I hadn’t been by his side. It was only because of the presence of his father that my son was able to wade into the unknown.
You’re father is with you too. He’s with you today. It’s time to move from faith to faithing.
