No faith, no security

I took a walk the other night and began to think about the curious fact that I was walking and living on the surface of a planet that happens to be hanging in space (hardly secure!). Yet in all my goings about, I felt physically secure. Not once did I worry about the possibility of falling into the vast blackness of space. I just believed in and took gravity, among many imponderables of geo and astrophysics, for granted—the earth would keep rotating and we could continue building our houses, driving our cars, taking walks, and so on, without worrying about falling off. This confidence, like all forms of security, is based on our belief in the reliability of things as we know and understand them. We feel financially secure because we believe our investments will grow accordingly and not be compromised by an unexpected financial crisis or theft; we feel secure in our marriages because we believe our spouse is happy and will not leave the relationship; we feel secure when we drive because we believe other drivers will obey the traffic rules as we do; and so on.

The veracity of these beliefs may be questionable, but we cling to them nonetheless because they give us the sense of security that makes living possible. Without faith, humans have neither security nor the illusion thereof, only the torment of fear. The ability to believe is, thus, built into our nature and the only question is in what we choose to place that faith. Jesus had an opinion on the matter. To him, God was the proper object of faith (Mk. 11:22) and the source of true security; those who believe in Him need not fear.