If I Don't Have Faith, Can I Be Saved?

Richard Wurmbrand, a famous Romanian pastor, says that in his youth, being an atheist, he prayed like this: "God, I am absolutely convinced that you do not exist; but just in case you do exist, which I doubt, it is not my duty to believe in you, but it is your duty to reveal yourself to me". After a short time, God revealed himself to him, and Wurmbrand became a servant of God.

Many people do not have faith to be saved. Even if they try hard, they cannot believe, and they think they can never attain God's salvation. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He saved many. Some had great faith, others did not even believe, and still others came to him with borrowed faith. And all were saved.

Once a leper came to him and said: "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean" (Matt. 8:2). He knew that it was enough if the Lord willed. It was not a matter of whether the Lord could, but whether he wanted to. What deep faith! Another time there came to him a woman sick with an issue of blood, who said within herself: "If I touch but his garment, I shall be made whole" (Matt. 9:21). She knew that there was such power in him that this gesture was enough, and the miracle would take place. These people took the initiative, and of course, they got from the Lord what they asked for.

And we have the case of a man who was saved by the faith of others: that paralytic whom his friends put on a stretcher and took him to the house where Jesus was. When they could not enter, because of the crowd, they took their friend, made an opening in the roof, and lowered him to the Lord's feet. The Lord Jesus, "seeing their faith", healed the sick man (Mark 2:1-5). It was not the sick man who took the initiative to approach the Lord, but his friends.

But there are even more dramatic cases, such as that of the poor bent-over woman who had been unable to stand upright for 18 years. When Jesus saw her, he called her. He did not ask her if she had faith or if she wanted to be healed. He only said to her: "Woman, you are free of your infirmity". And she was healed (Luke 13:10-13). At the pool of Bethesda, many sick people waited for an angel to come down from heaven to touch the water. Then the first sick person who entered the water was healed. One of them, a paralytic, had been there 38 years, and he could not be healed, because another always came before him. The Lord came to him and did not ask him if he had faith, but: "Do you want to be healed?". And he healed him.

These last two cases represent the suffering humanity, the defeated of life, who have seen how others have triumphed, while their lot has been adverse. But even to them the Lord came. It is enough to be close to him to be reached by his loving hand, it is enough to approach him and open one's heart for him to enter and dwell.

Even today, the Lord asks everyone who suffers: "Do you want to be healed? Do you want to be saved?". It is enough for you to say "Yes", and he will save and heal you.

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