“For we live by faith, not by sight.” II Corinthians 5:7
At school, my daughter practices what she calls “sight words”: “the,” “me,” “I,” and “like.”
The irony is that they should be “faith words.”
She’s supposed to know these words on sight because they’re used in English so frequently, but she has to take it on faith that the words are pronounced the way the teacher says.
In contrast to words such as “dog” or “pet” or “cat,” she won’t be able to sound out the word “like.” She’ll have to believe that in certain words the letter “e” is silent.
In truth, there are a good deal more things she’ll have to take on faith.
As I type this, she’s having a fit because she doesn’t want to sleep.
(The irony here is that the fit she’s having is a testimony to her need for sleep.)
I can’t prove to a five-year-old that sleep matters. She doesn’t know what to make of scientific studies. I’ll have to rely on emotional arguments, and at some point, she’ll just have to believe me.
We tell ourselves that our sense experiences are the realest things to us, that seeing is believing.
But more often than not, we have to take people’s words on things.
Paul’s admonition that we should live by faith testifies to how thoroughly our belief in God (the unseen One who made everything we see) should inform our lives.
I want to live a life that models this kind of faith for my daughter and my wife. That’s hard to do, and I’ll need all the practice I can get. Maybe my daughter’s school has the right idea.