What is faith other than a belief in what you think is true?
I believed that I would not get older than 30 one day and that I would never live to see a birthday past that. Was that faith? I believed that I was invincible before that. I believed there was nothing that would harm me or take away my life. I would live as a youth the rest of my days, filled with energy and passions. Was that faith? I believed even earlier on that I would never have to worry about where my meals came from or the roof over my head. My parents would always take care of that and I had no thought of tomorrow. Was that faith? Yet before that even I was unaware of things to worry about and I lived each moment without the thought of tomorrow. I didn't even think of a few minutes from that moment. There was nothing else but where I was and what I was experiencing at that moment.
Was that Faith?
In all those times I believed and I had hope. I could not see what would happen yet I believed it to be true, what I thought, and took no thought for the next day.
Isn't that faith?
Is there more to that than those thoughts and hopes and dreams? What else is there to faith? How do I define it? How do I apply it to my relationship with God?
Well, the dictionary definition of faith is: "Faith (disambiguation) is the confident belief or trust in the truth or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing." Faith is yet: "in general the persuasion of the mind that a certain statement is true. It is the belief and the assent of the mind to the truth of what is declared by another, based on his or her authority and truthfulness." [Statements from Wikipedia.com]
However, there is so much more that faith speaks to than just believing something to be trusted by mental assent. I believe that the chair I am sitting in will hold my weight before I sit in it. Otherwise I would not sit in it. I would be a fool to think that I could sit in something that would come crashing down under me and still sit in it. If I didn't trust that this chair was capable of holding me I would find another. So I trust in the object I put my faith in to perform what I believe it will do. And when it does, my faith in that object is reinforced and my faith is strengthened. I continue to believe what is true about the faith I first exercised in that Chair. Even as the chair gets older I still trust it can perform its function and I will be safe in its being there under me.
At some point however, I had to do something about my faith. I had to prove that my belief about the chair was true. I actually had to put my weight upon it and test whether or not it would be able to hold me. I had to even test it beyond the simple resting of my body upon it by maybe jumping up and down on it to make sure it could hold me in different situations. I may have physically examined it from the bottom, side or top. Physically inspected the condition of the materials it was built with and played with it to see if it could actually do what was reported of it as its capabilities. I came to know it and understand it.
So where am I going with all this? Just to this point. If I can trust a chair or a couch or a bed to hold me and keep me supported from falling and being damaged, then why can't I trust God to do so much more? If I trust a ladder to take me to new heights then why can't I trust God to take my life and make something useful out of it?
Is that faith?
Why can't I trust God with every aspect of my life for today, this moment and tomorrow? What must be done to start and continue to trust God for my life?
I say, I must not just believe he is capable of doing it. I must actually place myself in the care of God to do those things he claims to be able to do. I must prove him. He must prove himself to be trustworthy. I must come to know Him intimately. I must examine him and come to know the qualities of Him. I must diligently seek him and to know him and to experience him. Then I must lay my life down before him and allow him to do what he wants with me. Completely and utterly in his hand for the doing to me as he pleases. No reservation, even though I may be scared. No pulling away or backing up. I must lie quietly before him and be given completely for the purpose of those things I cannot see or understand, yet know that there is benefit from.
Otherwise, it is not faith. Is it?
I believe God created the earth and all things in it. Did he not? Can I then not trust a person who can do such a thing to destroy me and recreate me if he so pleases? I should be able to, if I have faith. Even if I have so little faith to be measures as large as a mustard seed. If I have that much faith I can do things known as impossible for a man to do. I seem to remember something about mountains and oceans. . .
And I am worried about what I will have to eat tomorrow?
So I have grown older than 30 and not died upon impact. Nothing has harmed me or taken away my life. I have not starved to death nor gone without some covering over my head. I should not be thinking about what and where for tomorrow. Just in the short amount of time I have been alive, I have enough proof of Gods faithfulness that I could write several books about it. There is so much evidence towards the person God and his faithfulness that I do not even have to ask for an explanation into the things I know nothing about. He has that covered as well. And then there is the testimony of many witnesses. They have placed their faith in him as well. They have found his faithfulness to be true.
The conclusion?
What right do you have to call yourself a Christian? To call yourself a follower? To say you have given your life to him if you cannot have the faith to believe what he has said? To act indifferently towards his commands and character? To defy his power and authority over your life? To hold back and not give all of yourself to his bidding? A rather faithless one I would say. Could that even be true? Could you be a Christian without faith?
Don't speak to me of your faith without works. Faith without works is a dead faith and a disqualified faith. Without the acting upon and trusting of my well being to God and all things around me, I cannot say I have any faith. I cannot be what He calls me to be. I must draw from the well of living water and exercise the trust I have been given in his ability to save me. I must grow in the knowledge of his everlasting faithfulness towards me and accept that he is in control of my life.
I must have faith.
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