A Ramble About Living By Faith

This may be a long ramble, so hang in there. The concept of living by faith seems to be badly misunderstood. It is all too often misinterpreted as something radically ungodly and unchristian, refusing to work and somehow expecting other people to provide for you. For this reason, it seems like people take one of the two extremes; either they do just that, and refuse to work, or they reject the notion altogether and depend heavily on their own jobs and what they can earn with their own hands. Neither is what the Scriptures or Sacred Tradition teach.

The truth is that how we live, and what we depend on for our physical needs is no different from our own Salvation, and is indeed a part and parcel of it. Our salvation comes about through cooperation with the Grace of God, and our physical provision is no less a cooperation with Him.

The Holy Scriptures say this:

19 “Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon. 25 Therefore, I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 See the birds of the sky, that they don’t sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you of much more value than they? 27 “Which of you, by being anxious, can add one moment * to his lifespan? 28 Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin, 29 yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won’t he much more clothe you, you of little faith? 31 “Therefore don’t be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’, ‘What will we drink?’ or, ‘With what will we be clothed?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore don’t be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day’s own evil is sufficient. (Matthew 6:19-34, WEB)

And this:

13 One of the multitude said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14 But he said to him, "“Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?”" 15 He said to them, "“Beware! Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man’s life doesn’t consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses.”" 16 He spoke a parable to them, saying, "“The ground of a certain rich man brought forth abundantly. 17 He reasoned within himself, saying, ‘What will I do, because I don’t have room to store my crops?’ 18 He said, ‘This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns, and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.”’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will they be?’ 21 So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”" 22 He said to his disciples, "“Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life, what you will eat, nor yet for your body, what you will wear. 23 Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: they don’t sow, they don’t reap, they have no warehouse or barn, and God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds! 25 Which of you by being anxious can add a cubit to his height? 26 If then you aren’t able to do even the least things, why are you anxious about the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 But if this is how God clothes the grass in the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith? 29 Don’t seek what you will eat or what you will drink; neither be anxious. 30 For the nations of the world seek after all of these things, but your Father knows that you need these things. 31 But seek God’s Kingdom, and all these things will be added to you. 32 Don’t be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. 33 Sell that which you have, and give gifts to the needy. Make for yourselves purses which don’t grow old, a treasure in the heavens that doesn’t fail, where no thief approaches, neither moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Luke 12:13-34, WEB)

What critics of living by faith don't tend to understand is that we live by faith whether we're aware of it or not. What Jesus was pointing out was not whether we are to live by faith, we do that anyway, but what our faith is in. What He was say is that first, if you are putting your faith in your own ability to provide for yourself, you are a fool because you don't know what will happen from one day to the next; and second, He was speaking against avarice, which itself is often born out of the fear that you won't have enough from day to day.

Living by faith means understanding that it is God who provides all of our needs, irregardless of what physical source they come from. Whether your needs are provided through an employer who pays you for the work you do, or if they come from a friend who wants to help, or if they come gift-wrapped in a basket left on your doorstep by some birds who happened your way it is ultimately God who provides the employment, the friend, and the helpful basket weaving birds. This should be more apparent in this economy today as so many people find out that it isn't by their efforts and abilities alone that they have jobs to go to, but by the mercy of God, and having your job today doesn't guarantee that you will have one tomorrow in which to place your trust.

But like having a job which God provides, living by faith requires that you cooperate with God in it. When you have an employer, it requires that you do the work your employer asks you to do. When you aren't deriving a paycheck by that means, it requires that you do the work that God has set up for you to do at the moment. When God provides food for the birds, it is true that they neither so nor reap, but they still have to get down low enough to hunt small animals, or gather seed. If they choose not to do this, they will starve even if surrounded by food.

There are some jobs that God tells people to do that preclude them from drawing a paycheck in the normal fashion because they legitimately can't do both without both suffering. This doesn't mean they don't work, but it does mean that they don't get paid for the work they do. In this case they must rely on their faith that God will provide for their needs by other means. There are some times, like the present day, when jobs are scarce to be had. Does this mean that God abandons His people? Does it mean He causes His rain to stop falling on either the faithful or the wicked? No. Of course not. But it does mean that they are challenged to learn to trust Him and not their own devices, and it also means that they learn what it means to ask Him for “our 'daily' bread.”

Trusting Him also means being satisfied with what He chooses to give. This I think is the hardest thing for most people. God gives what we need in the moment we need it. He generally doesn't give something today we think we might need tomorrow, or six months down the line for that matter. We like to feel secure by the amount of money or possessions we can see and hold, or be told is there for us in a bank account. But all of these things can disappear in minutes, especially in this day and age when everything is electronic, and the value of hard commodities like gold, silver, and oil fluctuates from day to day.

Often what God chooses to give is not what we think we need even if it is what we really do need at the time, and God has more than our physical needs in mind. Poverty is much more healthy spiritually than physical wealth because it forces us to rely on Him more and detach from trusting our own possessions and means.

I've spent years learning what living by faith means the hard way, what it is and what it isn't. Ultimately, it means trusting Him just as much for our physical life and health as it we trust Him for our spiritual life and health. Maybe this is why so many people have such trouble with it, and why it is so hard to learn, because so many people who say they trust in Him spiritually don't. It's a lot harder to put your money where your mouth is when it concerns things you can see and touch.