Flying By Faith

The idiom “on a wing and a prayer” is a stylish way of expressing one's wishful thinking in the face of hopeless circumstances.  The phrase can be traced back to allied airplanes returning to base in World War II.  Some of the aircraft had been severely compromised by enemy fire, and a safe landing was anything but certain.  In fact, the concept of flying back from a bombing raid in a crippled aircraft inspired the 1943 song, “Coming In On A Wing And A Prayer”.

Is that the way a Christ-follower should conceptualize faith?  Do we see our hope in God as nothing more than wishful thinking?  Perhaps you have thought that faith in God is nothing more than living "on a wing and a prayer".  I had my own airborne thoughts about this topic several years ago.  Thankfully, it was a time of quiet reflection and was not inspired by panic connected to a potential catastrophe!

Hurtling through the atmosphere at 435 miles per hour, I tried to take in the scenery.  From 40,000 feet, the Rocky Mountains loomed majestic and magnificent.  Enroute from Calgary to the West Coast of British Columbia, I was amazed at the beauty beneath me.  Then my thoughts turned to the faith required for me to have such an experience.  What faith!?  There is no religion required to fly a plane one might argue.  Yet faith, belief, and trust there is a-plenty in an airplane.  First, I needed to trust the training and skills of the flight crew.  Further, I had to have faith in the design and dependability of the Boeing 737.  Even more basic, I had to believe that the laws of aero dynamics were true.

That was when I realized that my flight was not all that unlike the journey of a Bible patriarch.  In the Bible we learn that Abraham was called by God into a dynamic friendship.  In particular, Abraham was invited to believe God’s promise of a son, who would be his heir.  In the New Testament we are told that Abraham believed God despite the human impossibility.  In Romans 4:18-21 we read,

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be.”  Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead – since he was about a hundred years old – and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.   Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

As a result, Abraham enjoyed the reward of right standing before God – righteousness.  He experienced the joy of being God’s friend, walking in the blessing of believing and trusting God with his life.  Now, if you think your life is free of faith, just think of the chair upon which you sit as you read your computer screen.  Your chair enables you to overcome gravity just a surely as any Boeing aircraft.  Just imagine the trust you place in a myriad of things every day from the media to elevators to streetlights.     

So here is the real question.  If you are willing to entrust your life to an elevator technician you have never met, why refuse to trust your life to the God who created you.  Coming to God on His terms means placing simple, childlike trust in the fact that you need to be forgiven, and that forgiveness is available for the asking.  Romans 10:9-10 tells us,

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 

Where would I have been had I refused to board the plane?  I would be left behind, unable to know the benefits of believing – and would certainly never arrive at my destination.  What is more, nothing I did created the lift, thrust, and power of the plane.  I simply put my trust in what was available to me.  From one traveler to another, I urge you today to hear God’s boarding call to put your trust in Him.  As Anders Nygren put it, “When one hears the Gospel and is conquered by it, that is faith!"  Because of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, you are freely offered an incredible journey of faith.  And the final destination?  An eternity with Him!