Key Scripture. Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Relevance

While driving to a hospital appointment on Friday morning at about 5:30 am, I tuned in to Focus on the Family. My alarm was set for an hour later, but the Lord woke me early, as He does with all of us from time to time.

They were interviewing an interesting guest, J. Warner Wallace, a 20-year veteran homicide detective. Wallace has written a book with a long title: " Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World That Rejects the Bible." It would be worth listening to the podcast here. 

I didn't turn the radio on early enough to catch the entire broadcast, but what I did hear struck me, and it will you. In the context of faith and trust, Wallace was referring to an incident involving a particular police officer he had interviewed.

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Wallace:“

I used to work homicide, and I also worked officer-involved-shootings. And I had an officer-involved-shooting one night, where we came out and interviewed the officer involved in the shooting.

He'd stopped a car for drunk driving. He got the drunk driver out, and the drunk driver ended up wanting to kill the officer because he was on parole. But he didn't want the officer to discover he had a gun in his waistband, so, as the officer got this guy out of the car, the guy turned on the officer and pointed the gun at him. He made a decision that night that he would rather kill the officer than go back to jail.  

The officer survived it, and as I was interviewing him, he told me about that in that millisecond moment of thinking, “What am I going to do? I could jump..” he said, "You know what? I'm wearing my bulletproof vest, and I've seen those vests stop bullets in the shooting range. So, I knew it was going to hurt, but if I tense my muscles, even though I might take the first couple of rounds, I can still get my gun out and return fire."

So he stood there calmly and eventually survived the shooting. That’s pretty harrowing and courageous.

The reason why he was able to stand calmly in a difficult situation was because he knew evidentially (relating to evidence) that that vest could stop the bullets. And if you know something is true evidentially, when you’re in a tough spot, you will default to muscle memory—to what you know is evidentially true.  

We will face tragedies and tough times and be tempted to ask, “Where is God in this?” But if we understand that Christ’s worldview can stop bullets, we can stand in the gunfight."

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What an awesome finishing statement! "if we understand that Christ’s worldview can stop bullets, we can stand in the gunfight."

The officer had faith in his vest! He trusted it while under fire! But it wasn't just a blind trust as if he had been handed the vest by his supervisor and told to wear it, with a simple, "Here, put this on. It'll save your life one day!" 

No, his trust went much deeper. He had been educated and trained in the vest's ability to prevent death. When that real scenario confronted him, as challenges of faith do us, what he trusted in was put to the test. 

But it was more than simple faith being tested. In that microsecond, faith's vital components were also tested—his knowledge and understanding of the vest's validity.

This officer's experience has a significant parallel with our faith and trust in Christ. So many times, we think we have sufficient faith to withstand the greatest attacks of the enemy. That is until a great attack comes, at which moment, we either stand or collapse.

The thing that gives us the ability to overcome fear in situations is not just blind faith but our knowledge and understanding of Jesus Christ's power and authority to withstand the enemy—His validity as Shepherd, Conqueror, King of Kings, the resurrected Anointed One, the only begotten Son of God, and the second being in the Trinity. 

We've all faced extraordinarily tough times. We know immediate confrontation where all we can do is stand and trust Jesus. This is why this story resonates so deeply with us.

The officer found that his faith paid off. His vest was his saviour. When we place the same depth of faith in Jesus during times of trouble, our trust pays off.

At that time, we discover the real meaning of the word SAVIOUR! 

Prayer

Dear Lord, thank you so much for this story. As Wallace suggests, it bears a close resemblance to the Christian walk. And thank you for saving the officer. It is an excellent example of the power of Jesus Christ and His ability to protect us when we stand in faith during difficult times. 

Photo by Fred Moon