Faith Is A Muscle

I was just a young boy the first time I flew in an airplane. It was exciting to me. But when we hit turbulence and the plane started bopping up and down, my excitement morphed into fear. The next time my uncle offered to take me up, I wasn’t sure I wanted to go. My dad reassured me by explaining how the turbulence was simply varying low and high pressure air pockets and that it was perfectly normal. He said the plane was built to withstand far more, and my uncle and other pilots have flown through turbulence thousands of times.

I believed him and got on the plane. We hit turbulence again and it was actually a little worse. Even though I still had some fear, I remembered what my dad had said. Plus, since we made it through last time, I was pretty sure we’d get through it again.

Since then, I’ve learned to fly myself and have been in turbulence rough enough to launch me to the ceiling. But I don’t ever hesitate to get on a plane. Actually, I rarely even notice turbulence anymore.

The more you actively believe something that is true to overcome fear, doubt, or to act contrary to your feelings, the more your faith grows. It also becomes easier to do or accept those things that were at one time very hard.

But the opposite is also true. The more you give in to doubt or irrational fear, the harder it becomes to believe what is true and your faith recedes. The more you give in to your fears and doubts, the more you are afraid and the more doubts you experience.

I have a friend who will not get on an airplane. It all started with an incident resembling mine when I was a boy. But the difference was, I believed my dad and got back on the plane. When my friend encountered fear from turbulence, he decided to never get on an airplane again. He gave in to fear, and that fear took over. I instead acted on belief and now that belief overcomes what used to be fear.

Faith grows when you use it.

Every time you act on your faith instead of your feelings, your faith grows. Every time you act, or fail to act, due to fear, your faith recedes.

Don’t wait for your faith to grow. Act on what little faith you might have and do what God wants you to do despite your feelings. You will find that faith, like a muscle, grows through exercise. The more you use it, the bigger it gets.