(Audio)
I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to the childlike.
How childlike are we when it comes to faith? When we are called to give a reason for the hope that is within us is our first impulse to suggest an irrefutable argument? Or would our first thoughts be on how our faith is true because the one who reveals it is trustworthy, truth himself? It is the later which is at once more childlike and less apparently practical. To have a childlike trust in the Father does not guarantee we will win the argument. But it makes it more likely that we can win hearts.
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe (see First Corinthians 1:20-21).
There are good and sound arguments for our faith. We do well to know them and to use them when they can help to clear away stumbling blocks. But apologetics cannot be our primary method. Only faith can truly attain to the things God wants to make known. We can't force someone into faith. But we can be witnesses to the reality of faith in our own lives. And if there are intellectual obstacles in others or in ourselves then and not before it is the time for argument and apologetics.
No one knows who the Son is except the Father,
and who the Father is except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.
Blessed are the eyes of faith who behold in Jesus the fulfillment of all of God's promises and all of the deepest desires of the human heart. Even now, amidst a world of case, faith gives us an anchor (see Hebrews 6:19) in eternity where peace will finally reign. It sees the shoot sprouting where the world sees only a dead stump.
There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD,
as water covers the sea.
Let us be childlike in faith as we await the time when justice shall flourish and fullness of peace. Knowing how much all hearts long for this time, let us share our faith with others.
Justice shall flower in his days,
and profound peace, till the moon be no more.
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