An Uncharted Journey
Illustration★★★★Ye have not passed this way heretofore. jos. 3:4 We cannot remind ourselves too often, when we say “we walk by faith not by sight,” that stress should be laid on the verb.
Faith is a way of walking, not a way of talking, or as Benjamin Whichcote put it, Christianity is a divine life, not a divine science. If we only talk, we shall very likely come to the 379 conclusion that Christianity is played out. If we try to live in such a way that Christ would approve our life, we shall certainly not think that. “Lord, to whom should we go?
Thou hast the words of eternal life.” There are some permanent acquisitions of the human spirit, from which it cannot go back, and of these the Christian revelation is the greatest. It is a principle of life, and it can therefore change, as only the permanent can change.
But to us, as to past ages, it can be and will be the guiding light which we may follow over the uncharted country through which our path lies. It has not failed us who are old; it will not fail you who are young. But unless you follow the gleam, you will soon see it no longer.
Faith begins as an act of will, “the resolution to stand or fall by the noblest hypothesis.” “Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.” Explain it how we will, that is the condition of spiritual vision.
The point
Faith is fundamentally a way of walking, not talking—Christianity is a divine life, not a doctrine. The Christian revelation endures as a principle of life that guides believers through uncharted territory, but only if they follow the gleam.