Believing and Risk
By Dr. Peter Wade, Published: 26th May 2008
The word “believe” is a nugget
of pure gold, whether you take our English word or John’s
word lying underneath. The underneath word, that John uses
in his own mother tongue, runs a sliding scale of meaning.
It’s a ladder rising from bottom round to topmost. It
means to be persuaded that a thing is true; then to place
confidence in it, to trust. And trust always contains
the idea of risk. The heart-meaning always is that
you risk something very precious to you, risk it to the
point of heart-breaking disaster if your trust proves wrong.
Our English word is of very close kin. It runs the same
sort of sliding scale, from something valuable and precious
in itself, on to something that satisfies you
regarding the matter in hand. You are not only satisfied but
pleased, content. And so there is the same trusting and
risking, the same leaning your whole weight upon the thing.
Deep down at its root, believe is a close kinsman to
love. They both spring out of the same warm creative
womb.
When we dig a bit into that word believe in the
usage of common life it means three distinct things, each
leading straight into the other — knowledge, belief, trust.
That is, facts, facts accepted, facts
trusted in regard to something that takes hold of your
life. You hear something. You believe it’s true. But there
must be the third thing, risking something valuable. There’s
no belief in the heart-meaning without this thing of
risking. The trust that risks is the life blood of
faith. The rest is only the bony skeleton with tendons and
sinews and flesh. There’s no life without the blood. There’s
no belief without trust.
From Quiet Talks on John’s Gospel by S.D. Gordon.