Faith Beyond Words

Have you ever wondered what extraordinary faith really looks like? Today's episode explores the difference between intellectual assent and true powerful faith.
To illustrate this difference, I share the fascinating story of Charles Blondin, the legendary tightrope walker who crossed Niagara Falls multiple times in 1859. After pushing a wheelbarrow across the tightrope, Blondin asked the cheering crowd if they believed he could carry a person across. They enthusiastically affirmed their belief – but when he asked for a volunteer to climb into the wheelbarrow, no one stepped forward. Their belief didn't translate to personal trust.
This perfectly captures our spiritual dilemma. Many of us have "sideline faith" – we believe God can work miracles, but hesitate to place ourselves completely in his hands. The Roman officer, however, demonstrated wheelbarrow-climbing faith. He didn't just believe Jesus could heal; he trusted Jesus would heal, and acted accordingly.
What kind of faith will you choose today? Will you remain a spectator, or will you climb into the wheelbarrow and let Jesus carry you through life's most challenging moments? Join me for this five-minute devotional that might transform your understanding of what it means to truly trust God.

Chapters

• 0:10 Welcome to Starting Right
• 0:33 Heroes of Faith in Scripture
• 1:05 The Tightrope Walker Story
• 2:27 The Roman Officer's Faith
• 4:07 Choosing Active Faith
• 5:22 Closing and Invitation

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:10

Good morning and welcome to Starting Right. I am Danny Mack, and I'm going to be here every Monday to Friday to help you get a great start to your day. So grab your cup of coffee, sit back and relax for the next five minutes as I help you start your day by starting right. When we talk about heroes of the faith in the New Testament, there are a lot of people to choose from. You could choose James or Peter or John or any of the disciples. You could choose Paul and say he was a great man of faith, which he really was. You could choose Mary to be your hero of faith, who took the word of the angel to bear the Son of God and to bring Jesus into the world. They're all great heroes of the faith. One of my favorites is a guy that we don't even know his name, and I think he had some of the greatest faith of anybody in the New Testament. I'm going to tell you who he is in just a couple of minutes, but first I want to tell you this story about a man by the name of Charles Blonden. Charles Blonden was the famous tightrope walker who walked back and forth across Niagara Falls back in 1859. He made the tightrope walk between the Canadian side of the falls and the American side of the falls a number of times. He crossed it walking across, he crossed it while walking on stilts, he crossed it while riding a bicycle. Once he even carried a stove and cooked an omelette on it while he was walking across. On July 15th, Blonden walked across the tightrope to Canada, where he grabbed a wheelbarrow and pushed it back across the tightrope to the American side. The story is told that after he pushed the wheelbarrow across, well blindfolded, he asked for some audience participation. The crowd had watched and they'd ooed and awed as he'd made his way across without faltering. He had proven he could do it. It is said that he asked the audience, Do you believe I can carry a person across in this wheelbarrow? And of course the crowd shouted, Yes, yes. It was then that Blondin posed the question, who will get into the wheelbarrow? Of course, none of them did. They believed that he could do it, but they weren't about to take that chance themselves. What they had seen and what they knew was not enough for them to have faith in it for themselves. Now let me tell you about my favorite man of faith in the New Testament. As I said, he's a man we don't even know his name. And in Matthew chapter 8, starting in verse 5, we find out about him. All we know is that he's a Roman officer who came to see Jesus. Let me read from verse 5 down to 13. When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer came to him and pleaded with him, Lord, my young servant lies in bed paralyzed and in terrible pain. Jesus said, I will come and heal him. But the officer said, Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say go and they go, or come and they come. And if I say to my slaves, do this, they do it. When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. And turning to those who were following him, he said, I tell you the truth, I haven't seen faith like this in all Israel. And I tell you this that many Gentiles will come from all over the world, from the east and the west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the kingdom of heaven. But many Israelites, those for whom the kingdom was prepared, will be thrown into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then Jesus said to the Roman officer, Go back home because you believed it has happened. And the young servant was healed that same hour. The faith of many of us is like the faith that the crowd had in the Charles Blondon story. We say, Yes, we know he can do it. Yes, we know we can. Yes, rah-rah, rah, yes, he can. And then God says to us, Will you let me carry you through this? And we don't respond. We pull back. In the story of the Roman centurion, he came forward and he said, Look, Jesus, I know. I understand who you are, I understand your power and your strength. And if you say it, it is true and it will be done. And I have no question and no doubt that I can trust your word. Our challenge is really very simple. What kind of faith are we going to have? Are we going to have sort of the sideline faith that stands back and says, rah, rah, yes, yes, we know God can do it? Or are we going to have faith that is willing to get involved and willing to climb in the wheelbarrow with Jesus and let him carry us through the tight rope places of our lives so that we can find safety and answers from him. Choose faith that goes into action and God will bless you. Have a great day, my friends. We'll talk tomorrow. Thank you for listening today. And I invite you to join me Monday to Friday right here on Starting Right with Danny Mack.