Faith
The concept of faith is a tricky one. The word faith has been misused and abused so often that it sometimes causes a visceral reaction in my gut when someone starts to talk about it.
Once I heard someone explain that the reason prayer was unsuccessful was that the sick person “had a faith issue”.
Once someone had a prophecy that didn’t come to pass but they said that they were believing it in faith anyway. When I asked what steps they had taken towards making it a reality (such as starting a study program), they replied saying they were solely relying on God. Which I translated as meaning that they were going to do absolutely nothing themselves, then be surprised when nothing happened.
Sometimes when I question a concept or biblical interpretation other Christians will say condescendingly “you just have to have faith”. I just think irritating people use the phrase to sound Godly rather than say “I don’t know and I don’t care”.
The opposite of faith
Bill Johnson said in his book “When Heaven Invades Earth” that the opposite of faith is not doubt, it is fear. His statement disagrees with what I have been taught; that doubt is the worst enemy of faith.
But when you think about it, it seems that doubt is often based in fear. I might doubt God’s healing power because I am secretly afraid I won’t get healed for example. In order to combat that doubt I really need to confront the fear of not being healed.
In scripture the book of Hebrews has a lot to say about faith (40 references according to biblegateway.com). Hebrews chapter 11, verse one says “Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it.”.
We live in faith
At its simplest I think being a Christian means choosing to follow Jesus and his teachings. This could be described as having faith in Jesus, in his teachings and in his divinity. We choose to believe these things are real even though we cannot see proof of them with our eyes.
The whole concept of faith is a hard one to explain. People who don’t have a religious background often find the concept foreign and distasteful.
However we live lives of faith. I go to work every day because I have faith that at the end of the month I will be paid for the work, the money is not in my account yet but I believe it will be at the end of the month.
I believe this because of my experience. With my very first job I believed it because of other’s experience and what they told me about this exciting concept of “getting paid”.
When I sit on a chair I have faith it will hold me up, and as a big lass my faith in this area needs to be greater than most! The very act of sitting requires faith that the chair will hold me up.
Looking at Jesus we can have faith in him and his teachings not because we can see them but because of the experience of others. Just like I chose to believe I would get paid for my first job because someone reliable told me so, we can chose to believe in Jesus because someone reliable told us about it. Just like when I sit down I chose to believe the chair will hold me, we can chose to believe that when we pray there is someone listening.
Now a lot of my faith comes from my experiences with Jesus. I still cannot see him with my eyes, but I can see how he has affected my life, I can see the results of my prayers, I have felt his presence and I know he is real. But right at the start, first I had to choose have faith because someone told me about their experiences.
Right now I choose to believe in a God I cannot see. I choose to believe that the unseen is real and I chose to live my life in light of this fact. And that is what faith is.
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