Faith is an indispensable ingredient in the life mix of the believer. It is the commodity without which it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Interestingly, it is not only in the life of a believer that faith plays a role. Faith is also used in the lives of many in our world today. We often say we have no faith in our politicians to express our lack of confidence in them; or we will say things like “You can do it. I have faith in you” or again “have faith” to encourage someone in a difficult situation. It is true everyone uses the term but I wonder how many understand it? Indeed, what is even faith? What makes faith the essential component to living a righteous life? Why must we seek it? I have noted some truths recently that I had never seen before when it comes to the subject of faith as I read in the book of Hebrews. My goal will be to flesh out these truths I saw in order to solidify your understanding of faith and encourage you in its application.
Before going further let us define faith. As Hebrews rightly says, faith is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). It is in other words the ability to see the invisible. The bible says that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. We serve a God that is invisible but His invisibility does not negate His existence. This truth alone has hit me differently this week as I read more about faith. One of the reasons it is important to have faith to be pleasing to God is simply because faith allows us to connect to the “invisible”, to penetrate God’s world! As earthly beings, we only see what our eyes see but the bible is very clear on the fact that there is an invisible world and the God we serve is from there. God is spirit after all. The only way to access that invisible world or the things of that invisible world is through faith because it gives us spiritual eyes to see what our physical eyes cannot see. How can you approach an invisible God without first believing that He exists (Hebrews 11:6)? Without this foundation there is absolutely no point in you trying to come to Him or establish any sort of relationship with Him. It just won’t work simply because you would be speaking a language He does not understand and vice-versa.
Moreover, faith produces incredible men and women who become extraordinary because of the things they accomplish. With faith, there is an audacity and boldness that is not common in the world because it makes you do things that are deemed foolish in this world. For example, it took faith for the people of Israel to walk on dry ground as they crossed the Red Sea. Can you imagine crossing a sea on dry ground? Can you even imagine stepping foot into that see and then seeing the water parted? Would you have venture in? Such boldness is what faith produces in men and women. Similarly, when Noah built the ark, he exercised faith because he believed the word of God saying that there would be a deluge. Meanwhile, Noah’s reality did not predict that, there was not even a hint of deluge coming from anywhere. I can imagine the ridicule that Noah had to endure while he was building his boat. Yet Noah saw the invisible deluge as if it were. He knew God would act on His word. I wonder what went through Noah’s mind as the day of the deluge came to pass! Probably a mixture of feelings: awe, fear, joy, pride, etc. When I think of how often the bible tells us to not rely on our own understanding, I think of faith because unlike our understanding, faith does not rely on us therefore does not give us any control. With faith we are at the mercy of the object of our faith which is God. God is supreme and His understanding is not even closely related to ours. Maybe that is why we are simply called to trust in Him and believe in what He says. I think, if God were to tell us everything we would not be able to understand it anyway. It would be as Psalm 139 says “such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain” (verse 6).
Another truth in relation to faith is that faith gives the ability to do exploits, it gives power. As Hebrews reminds us, because of faith, Sarah received power to conceive even though she was past her age. This was humanly impossible to do yet faith made it possible. Moreover, faith allowed Joshua to win battles against powerful armies, more powerful than Israel’s; faith brought justification to people like Rahab to become part of God’s people and be recipient of their promises and blessings. Indeed, it is that same faith that justifies us today. We are able to be declared righteous because of the faith we have in Jesus, in the sacrifice he did for us on the cross. Just as Abraham was declared righteous, or Abel declared righteous, we too are declared righteous on the basis of our faith. Our faith is not simply believing anything, but specifically believing in God, in what Jesus has done on the cross. I realized that one of the reasons Abel’s offering to God conferred him the status of righteousness was the fact that Abel acted on the word of God. He had received instruction either from his parents or from God himself on how to please God and he believed. Were it not for that belief and obedience, Abel would not have been able to offer the right sacrifice to God and receive his righteousness.
Finally, the last truth that I saw about faith is that faith is always growing, it starts small but it becomes bigger and bigger. To think that Abraham first started believing in the promise that his descendants would possess Canaan to later believing in heaven or the celestial city as an inheritance is proof that as days went by, his faith grew, he understood more about his God than he did in the beginning. Our faith is not meant to be focused on ourselves or simply the imaginary but it is meant to be focused on what the Lord has said, who He is and what He does. Now I ask you, what has God said to you? What promises has He given you that you are not able to reconcile in your reality today? Hold on, press on and persevere because what He says always comes to pass. What’s more, those of us that trust in Jesus have been given the Holy Spirit which is the guarantee of our new status in Christ. We have more than God’s words to hold on to, we have Himself! I pray you learn to lean on the Holy Spirit as you act in faith.
A Word Aptly Spoken 