Faith is not a good work we give to God in place of all the other stuff we don't do. Scripture tells us that we're born dead in trespasses and sin. Not only do dead people not do good works, but dead people don't believe, either. It's only through God's life-giving Spirit, given through His Word preached, poured, eaten and drunk, that belief can happen. In Mary's case, the Word was spoken by Gabriel, God's messenger, God's angelos. It was not merely a miracle that she conceived by the Holy Spirit. It was a miracle that she believed as the result of the working of that same Holy Spirit.
Nobody can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit. Nobody can come to Jesus unless the Father draws him. Faith is as much of a miracle- no, more of a miracle- than the Virgin Birth! It's not something we offer God, but something which He bestows, cultivates, and preserves within us employing the Word preached, read, poured, eaten, and drunk. It's not a feeling. It's not an achievement. It's being grasped by God and grasping back by His power, not on our own.
Trying to do God's work for Him and manufacture faith is in itself unbelief. Faith is saying, "Be it as the Lord wills," just as Mary does. It's letting God be God. It's an emptiness waiting for God to fill it. It is, as Peter Marshall said, our "Declaration of Dependence."
There is a Buddhist koan about a man who went to a wise old hermit and asked to be taught. He hermit offered him tea. He poured it into the man's cup. But even when the cup was filled, he continued pouring. Soon, they both were sitting in a puddle of tea!
Finally, the man politely pointed out that his cup was full and the hermit need not continue to pour. "Ah," the hermit said. "And that is your first lesson.
"To be filled, one must first be empty."
Faith is the emptiness we rely on God to fill. Just as Mary's womb was filled by God's Spirit, so, too, our hearts must be as we daily take our emptiness to the Word so that we might be filled.
Ever wonder why we don't wait for babies to grow up before we baptize them? Well, now you know. There is no room here for decisions or commitments or spiritual achievements on our part. There is an emptiness there to be filled. It's not for nothing that while Jesus never said that little children needed to become like adults to enter the Kingdom, He did say that the rest of us need to become like little children.
What Scripture means when it speaks of being "filled with the Spirit" isn't some super-duper spiritual condition achieved by jumping through spiritual hoops. Rather, it's the exact opposite of all striving and achieving. It's confessing our emptiness, and relying on God to fill it.
Let's pray what I believe to be the most perfect of prayers: Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. Amen.
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