What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see.  Hebrews 11:1

 

Few words in the English language have any more diverse meanings that the word faith. We talk about having faith in God and in people, and keeping the faith–which means putting into practice what you believe. We also think of faith as a virtue. Some think of faith as a mental bridge to an unknown substance, person, or quantity. In some cases they think of it as believing in something which is not there or cannot be demonstrated but which you hope or wish is there—kind of like leaping into a chasm with the hope someone will be there to catch you before you fall.

“Don’t’ talk to me about faith,” some say, quickly adding, “Talk to me about real things—things I can see and feel and experience.  Yet, that is exactly what the Bible says faith is. Realizing that to believe in something you do not see is challenging to your intellect and experience, the writer of Scripture said this:  “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).  There are two words that are keys to understanding the definition.  The first word, translated “substance” (remember, “faith is the substance of what you hope for”) is the same word that was used in Roman days for the title deed to a piece of property.  Suppose you wanted to purchase a piece of property in the city of Athens, but you lived in Rome. You paid the money for the property and received a title deed—signed and sealed. The property is yours.

The second word, translated “evidence,” means it is the proof of what you hope for.  OK, you say, but when it comes to believing in someone or something that I have never seen, I have problems feeling that it is for real.

C.S. Lewis wrote, “Faith is holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods… This rebellion of your moods against your real self is going to come, and that is why faith is such a necessary virtue: unless you teach your moods “where they get off,” you never can be a sound Christian, but just a creature dithering to and fro, with its beliefs really depending on the weather and the state of its digestion. Consequently one must train the habit of faith.”

OK, you have trouble committing your life and future to something—better put, someone–you have never seen, right?  Then ask yourself these questions:

• Do I believe there is a God who has demonstrated His power in the creation of this world?
• Do I believe that God is a good God, that He is not trying to make us believe in something that is untrue?
• Do I believe that God is to be trusted, that He would not lie to us or strive to deceive us?
• Do I believe that the proof of His love was the indisputable fact that He sent His Son to Earth long ago? Can I accept what Paul wrote, “God demonstrated His love to us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us?”

A final thought:   As A. W. Tozer put it, “In the book of Acts, faith was for each believer a beginning, not an end; it was a journey, not a bed in which to lie while waiting for the day of our Lord’s triumph. Believing was not a once-done act; it was an attitude of heart and mind which inspired and enabled the believer to take up his cross and follow the lamb.”  As Elton Trueblood put it: “Faith is not belief without proof but trust without reservation.”

Resource reading: Hebrews 11