Thursday 09th of September 2010

Home Spirituality What is Spirituality? Experience, Knowledge and Trust: Vital Components of Faith
Experience, Knowledge and Trust: Vital Components of Faith Print
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When you left your house this morning, walked over to the car parked in your driveway, unlocked it and climbed in, what did you do next? You probably put the key into the ignition, turned it to the right, and started your car. What caused you to do that?

Car KeysBasically, it was faith . . . faith that your car would start. What is that faith based on? The experience you encountered the last time you turned your key in the ignition and the car started . . . and the time before that, and the time before that. You had faith that your car would start, based on your prior experiences when you had put the key into the ignition and the car had started. Thus, your faith in the ability to start your car with your car key is based partially on prior experiences.

If your car engine is in the process of being rebuilt and is sitting on the pavement next to your car at your mechanic’s shop, you would not bother trying your key in the ignition to see if the car would start—no matter how much faith you had that it would start and no matter how many times in the past it had started. Why? Because on this occasion, you now have knowledge that the engine is not inside the car. No matter how much you believe or will it to be, or pray it into existence, the engine is not in the car and you know that cars do not function without engines. Therefore, based upon that knowledge, you choose a different vehicle to use until your own car is repaired. You have no less faith in your car, but based on the knowledge of the current situation, you change direction temporarily.
Mechanic
Tomorrow, when your car is back in working order, you once again take your car key, and based on the faith that the mechanic knew what he or she was doing, you start your car. Why? Because you trust the mechanic’s skill and ability to properly repair a car, and you trust that you were told the truth when the mechanic said that your car was repaired and ready to drive. Your faith, then, is partially based on the trust you have in your mechanic.

Finally, when you start the car, you ensure that the mechanic had given you back your own car key. You may have a beautiful key in your hand, a wonderful key complete with a really cool keychain, but if it isn’t the key that unlocks your car, you will not be able to start the car—no matter how much faith, experience, knowledge, or trust you have in that key. It is simply the wrong key. You must use the right key to start a vehicle.

Holy BibleAs I drive down this road of earthy life, with the destination of life eternal, my vehicle of choice is the God of the Old Testament. My key is Jesus Christ, and the fuel is the Holy Spirit. I believe, or have faith in, that God is the vehicle to get me to heaven. Fortunately, He is never in need of repair, so I do not need to redirect my focus to a different vehicle. I trust that He has told me the truth in His Word, and I base my faith and trust on the knowledge I have of the Scriptures and the experiences that I have had whenever I have put the Bible to test. In every instance in my own life, the Bible has never been proven to be false for me, based upon my knowledge, my trust in the truth and validity of that knowledge, my acting in faith upon that knowledge, and the outcome from my experience of the situation in which I had applied the advice in the Bible.

Thus, in order for your faith to work—whether it be in a car or in God—it needs these three vital components: experience, knowledge, and trust. ~
 

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