Because You Are Loved

Because You Are Loved
 
If faith is irrational, why do so many rational minds believe?
And if faith is rational, why do so many intelligent minds reject it?
 
 
Very wise men and women believe in Jesus Christ.
Very wise men and women dismiss Him.
 
 
This has always troubled me.
 
 
If faith is irrational, why do so many brilliant minds embrace it?
And if faith is rational, why do so many equally intelligent people reject it?
 
 
The older I get, the more I realize this is not an IQ question.
It is a trust question.
 
 
 
Reason can take us far.
 
 
Reason can tell us that the universe had a beginning,
that moral law exists,
that beauty and meaning are real,
and that suffering demands an explanation.
 
 
But reason alone cannot answer the question that matters most to a suffering human being:
 
 
When my strength fails,
when my body weakens,
when my world grows smaller…
will I be held?
 
 
 
This is where faith begins.
 
 
Not where thinking ends,
but where relationship begins.
 
 
 
Scripture itself invites reason, not blind belief.
 
 
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord.”
— Isaiah 1:18
 
 
And again:
 
 
“Always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in you.”
— 1 Peter 3:15
 
 
 
Christian faith has never asked us to abandon the mind.
It asks us to recognize the limits of the mind.
 
 
 
I am not afraid of death.
 
 
I am afraid of decline without love,
of dependence without dignity,
of being unseen when I am most vulnerable.
 
 
 
And this is where my faith has been quietly reshaped.
 
 
Christianity does not promise that the future will be easy.
It promises something more sober and more profound:
 
 
“I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”
— Hebrews 13:5
 
 
 
Not, “I will fix everything.”
But, “I will be with you.”
 
 
 
The question faith answers is not,
Can I understand the future?
 
 
It is this:
 
 
When I can no longer carry myself,
will I still be carried?
 
 
 
And Scripture answers this with startling tenderness:
 
 
“Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He;
I am He who will sustain you.
I have made you, and I will carry you;
I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”
— Isaiah 46:4
 
 
 
Faith is not pretending we will remain strong.
Faith is trusting that when we are no longer strong,
we will not be abandoned.
 
 
 
There is a verse that has become very precious to me:
 
 
“Cast all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.”
— 1 Peter 5:7
 
 
 
Not because all care disappears,
but because someone else carries it with me.
 
 
 
So perhaps faith is rational in this sense:
 
 
not because it explains everything,
but because it answers the only question the future finally asks of us:
 
 
When I am no longer strong,
will I still be safe?
 
 
 
And Christianity dares to answer:
 
 
“Yes.
Not because you are strong.
But because you are loved.”
 
 
 
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want…
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me.”
— Psalm 23:1, 4
 
 
 
Perhaps faith is rational not because it explains everything,
but because it teaches us whom to trust when understanding ends.