Last week we asked the question, “Do we match our theology to our life experience or do we match our life experience to our theology?“ Perhaps the answer is neither. If our theology is limited by our experience, we could literally leave God out of the equation. In other words, could not God do something for which we have no theology? Obviously the answer is yes. As pointed out last week, we have alternative options if we live by the belief that our experience must match our theology especially when our experiences disappoint us. For example, I am told from outside my body my blood looks blue in color due to visually observing blue veins. But, my blood in my body or outside my body is red and only red because hemoglobin is mainly made up of red blood cells and their literal color is red. If what I see or experience is the totality of what I believe, I will be missing a whole element of who God is and what He does. By this, I actually place God within my human framework, making Him just another human being. If I live by theology only and discount experiences, then I will never get to know the-outside-of-the-human-experience God and Savior.

All of those heroes mentioned in Hebrews eleven acted by faith and yet did not see what God had promised (11:13). Further, the scriptures reveal that we live by faith; with a spirit of faith we believe and then speak; we fix our eyes on the unseen and, faith is hoping for what is going to happen even though we do not see it. Then we find this key in Hebrews two: “We do this (putting on faith and taking off that which slows or hinders faith) by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish.” (12:2 NLT) Faith never quits, never gives up and never gives in. Faith does not need experience to be reality. Faith is not hindered by theology because theology never saved or healed anyone. Faith keeps our eyes on Jesus from “start to finish.“ And faith is only found in the experience of encountering Jesus, the One who loves to confound the wise and, at times, act outside of our theology.