The Battle between Logic and Faith

GOD’S WORD: “For we have also had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.” – Hebrews 4:2

Picture, if you will, a decision-making spectrum with logic on one side and faith on the other. On the logical side are things like reasoning, historical analysis, knowledge, and reality. It’s on this side that decisions are made with tangible tools. It’s on this side that decisions are made from the mind.

But on the faith side of the spectrum resides words like trust, hope, believe, and patience. It’s on the faith side that decisions are made with tools we cannot quantify or explain in figures and data. It’s on this side that decisions are made from the heart.

So, which is right?

Neither, in and of themselves. God has given us both a mind and a heart to employ in our decision-making.

To make use of only tangible facts and data in our decision-making is to completely obliterate our trust and our faith in the unseen workings of God in all we do.

Likewise, to solely make decisions on faith without using the truth right in front of your eyes is to disregard the gift of wisdom that God has given us. We need a healthy balance between the two.

This is a perpetual struggle for me. While I have personally witnessed the power of hope and faith when employed, my human nature quite often wants to abandon faith and rest solely on logic; on what I can see; on what I perceive to be the truth.

Then at other times, my hopes are so strong (and perhaps misguided) that I use the “faith card” to justify my defiance of logic. Yet while I struggle with the correct balance between the two, I am made all the more certain that it is a balance that is needed.

Logic is rarely faithful.

And faith is rarely logical.