Faith
Andy Fehler
When most people talk about faith they either mean:
- A religion (so Prince Charles is now "defender of faiths")
- Believing in something you know isn't true.
- Linked to that is "Blind faith" which is basically an irrational belief in something you just can't know for certain. It means believing despite any evidence, and even sometimes despite evidence to the contrary.
- Sometimes faith is seen as a quality that some people possess, but cannot be gained. This is what people mean when they say: "I wish I had your faith!"
- To others it's just a girl's name.
But when the Bible uses the word faith, what does it mean?
In the Bible faith is very similar to the word trust in that it is directed at someone or something rather than just being a vague quality people possess.
The faith isn't what is important, what matters is who the faith is in. In fact in the Bible people who have faith, but faith in the wrong thing, are very strongly criticised, for example Isaiah 42:17 says "They are turned back and utterly put to shame who trust in carved idols, who say to metal objects 'You are our gods.'"
The Bible only applauds people who have faith in the right place - and that place is God. Instead of saying, "I wish I had your faith", the Bible encourages us to ask, "What is your faith in?"
The writer to the Hebrews says in chapter 11:1 "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." He goes on to list a whole bunch of people from the Old Testament who are praised for their faith. They all did stuff that on the face of it seemed stupid - like Abraham who left his home and moved to somewhere new, simply because God told him to. Was he mad? No, because he knew that God was trustworthy. The passage says: "For Abraham was looking forward to a city that has foundations whose designer and builder is God." He looked beyond what on the face of it appeared ridiculous, to the One who had asked him to do it, and he knew he could put his faith in God. God wasn't asking him to do it for a laugh - there was a reason and Abraham had faith, or trusted God.
But importantly, it wasn't blind faith; it was based on what God had already done for his people. With that evidence to look back on he knew God was trustworthy. It is the same for the others mentioned in Hebrews 11 - they had faith in God and knew he would keep his word.
We have even more reason to trust in God, today, as we see how the Bible story pans out. In the New Testament, we read about God sending his Son Jesus to die on a cross in our place, taking our punishment. Jesus makes it possible for us to be forgiven and start a new friendship with God. Throughout the Bible God has promised that he will act to restore our relationship with him, and we see him doing that in Jesus. This should make us realise that God is someone who keeps his promises and whose words we can trust.
But what about us now - what are we being called to do? How can we have our relationship restored? What is God asking us to do through faith? Is it move to a new country like Abraham?
In Romans 1:16-17 Paul sums up his feelings on the good news that comes through Jesus (something he shorthands as the gospel): "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek [that is all who aren't Jews]. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.'" The righteousness of God means the way we can be made right with God - this way is through faith. That means that in order to be friends with God, to have our relationship set right with him we have to have faith and trust Him and the gospel. Not through keeping rules or being good, or in fact doing anything at all, but simply by believing. All we have to do is have faith in Jesus and what he did on the cross.
As you read this, my bet is you are sitting on a chair. You may not realise it but you have faith in that chair - before you sat down you may have looked at it and considered whether it would hold your weight, then happy that it looked secure you put your trust or faith in it by sitting down, unless you fell flat on the floor as the chair gave way, your faith in is hasn't let you down! That is faith - it is no stranger than that - the only difference is that we look at Jesus and what he has done and weigh up whether he is trustworthy in a slightly different way.
But, it is no good just looking at a chair and deciding that it will probably hold us. We only get the benefit from it if we actually sit down! Similarly we won't have real faith in Jesus if we just acknowledge intellectually that the gospel is true - we need to act on that decision. This is when we show faith in Jesus and his gospel. Whilst we are made right with God through faith alone, true faith works itself out in action. Abraham had faith in God and packed his bags and moved somewhere new at great personal cost. Faith in Jesus today will cause us to act and live in a different way too.
So the question is not - "do you have faith?", but "what is your faith in?" Your friends? Your family? The Government? The goodness of mankind? Or God and His Son Jesus?
Have you ever looked into Jesus and his claims to decide whether he is worth trusting?
If you have done that, have you acted on your decision? Have you accepted Jesus' actions for yourself? That is when we have faith.