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Key Bible Verse: Now we see things imperfectly as in a poor mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity (1 Corinthians 13:12).Bonus Reading:John 20:24-29

In his book,A Severe Mercy, Sheldon Vanauken recounts his mental wrestling before his conversion at Oxford. He found himself caught in a dilemma many others have experienced over the role of proof in faith:

"There's a gap between the probable and the proved. How was I to cross it? If I were to stake my whole life on the risen Christ, I wanted proof. I wanted certainty. I wanted to see him eat a bit of fish. I wanted letters of fire across the sky. I got none of these. …

"[But] there was a gap behind me as well! Perhaps the leap to acceptance was a horrifying gamble—but what of the leap to rejection? There might be no certainty that Christ was God—but, by God, there was no certainty that he wasn't. This wasn't to be borne. I couldn't reject Jesus. There was only one thing to do once I'd seen the gap behind me. I turned away from it, and flung myself over the gap towards Jesus."

There is indeed a leap of faith involved in Christianity—but it isn't an irrational leap in the dark. The Christian experience is that of being caught safely by a loving and living God, whose arms await us as we leap.

—Alister McGrath in Doubting

My Response: The reason I'll make my leap of faith in God's direction is …

Thought to Apply: Faith is a free surrender and a joyous wager on the unseen, untried, and unknown goodness of God.—Martin Luther (German reformer)

Adapted from Doubting (InterVarsity, 2006) by permission.

Copyright © 2008 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Thank You, Lord, that while what I believe is beyond comprehension, it's never contrary to reason.

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