Why faith is like flying: what to do when your faith feels weak

My wife, Ceri, suffers with vertigo. If we go up a turret in an old castle and look out from the top, she’ll freak out and scream, “Hold on to the children”. Logically it’s quite hard for a toddler to leap over a one-metre-high wall, but that’s the thing about irrational fears… they’re irrational. As Ceri describes it, her legs turn completely to jelly on top of a castle turret and she feels as if she’s going to fall. The truth she needs to know is that her safety doesn’t depend on her legs, but upon the castle’s solid walls.

Look at Jesus, not at yourself

It’s easy to live the Christian life looking at our legs rather than at the solid ground. So we worry about the strength of our faith, rather than looking at the object of our faith: Jesus. Partly that’s a problem with Christian shorthand. We often use the phrase: “We’re justified by faith”. Happily that does not mean that we’re justified by the quality of our faith. It does mean that we’re justified by faith in Jesus.

It would be a disaster if it was the quality of our faith that put us in right standing with God. Sometimes our faith feels strong; sometimes it feels weak. Sometimes we trust the Lord in our actions; sometimes we don’t. Our faith is highly variable. So it’s a relief that our salvation doesn’t rest upon the quality of our faith, but upon Jesus! Our faith may go to jelly, but he is the solid ground upon which we stand.

Our faith may go to jelly, but Jesus is the solid ground upon which we stand.

Faith contributes nothing to our righteous status. It merely connects us to Jesus. Faith is worthless, unless it is faith in Christ.

I used to work with a woman who hated flying. Before any flight she’d take several tablets of valium to calm her nerves. On take off, she’d close her eyes and grip my hand until I wanted to scream with pain. By contrast, I’ve never been a nervous flyer. Yet at the end of the flight, both of us arrived at the same destination. For her it had been stressful; for me (apart from a sore hand) it was very relaxing. I was confident in my faith in the plane. She was not. But we both got there. Our faith is somewhat like our confidence in flying. Jesus takes us to heaven whether our faith is strong or anxious.

I know too many Christians who spend a lot of time worrying about their faith. It is not the strength of your faith that brings you righteousness. It is the strength of your Saviour.

A better phrase to use

Rather than using the shorthand expression, “We’re justified by faith”, it might be healthier to say, “Jesus justifies us by faith in him”. It’s a little clumsier but more accurate. It stops us looking at our own wobbly faith and helps us to look at him.

You are not justified by your faith, but by faith that unites you to Jesus, who justifies you.

Martin Luther suggested that “faith clasps Christ as a ring clasps its jewel”. No one looks at a ring and comments upon the clasp. It’s the jewel that sparkles; it’s the jewel that’s special; and it’s the jewel that costs the money! The jewel is valuable and the clasp holds onto it. Yet, there’s a greater degree of intimacy than that. Righteousness is not a substance thrown across God’s heavenly courtroom. It is intimacy with a person: Jesus. It’s not the quality of your faith that makes you acceptable to God. It is Jesus who makes you acceptable, and Christians are united to him.

You are not justified by your faith, but by faith that unites you to Jesus, who justifies you.

There’s a man at our church that I’ll call Raymond, whose attendance is patchy. On past occasions he has stated, “I don’t feel like I belong in church. I just can’t forget what I’ve done in the past. I can’t ignore how I’ve lived. I can’t let it go.”

I don’t want to be trite, but we always come back to this fact: “Raymond, it’s not about you. It’s about Jesus. Don’t look at your own life. Don’t look at your own faith. Stop looking at yourself and look at Jesus.”

This is an extract from Matt Fuller’s new book, Perfect Sinners: See yourself as God sees you, which is available now.