What is “faith”?
Many think that faith is just believing something.
Even Merriam Webster defines faith as “firm belief in something for which there is no proof.”
But that’s not faith at all.
Hebrews 11 offers a different definition. It begins, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” — Hebrews 11:1.
It says faith is “substantive”, not just some flimsy belief with no evidence. But perhaps most remarkably it claims that faith itself IS the evidence— “the evidence of things not seen.”
That’s a lot to take in. And to truly grasp a concept, I believe it is important to pray and ask God to show me what He means. When I’ve caught a glimpse of it, either through it being “taught or caught”, I put what it means to me in my own words so I can look back on how God has grown my understanding over time. I call these #heartwords.
Considering the whole of scripture, illuminated by my own walk with the Lord, I would define faith as this:
Faith is the product of a conviction about a hope that comes from experiences that have built trust.
I believe there are five essential elements to spiritual faith:
1. Experience – faith is always initiated by an encounter with God. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” — Romans 10:17. God expresses His Word and we can encounter it in many ways by His Spirit: scripture, preaching, love, etc… We know we’ve had an encounter when it is facilitated by His Spirit and echoes His Word (Message).
2. Hope – A desire that is a result of the encounter and is given by God.
3. Conviction – Convinced to action. This is not just intellectual assent to an idea, but an assertion that is born from the encounter and results in an internal drive that demands action.
4. Trust – Experience with something or someone that gives you reason to have confidence.
5. Product – Fruit, an observable expression of faith. The product is more than just doing, it’s a state of being which expresses in doing.
Crises of faith, I believe, is due to an absence or distortion of one of these five elements.
I believe the most common faith problems are lack of personal experience which is prevalent among Cultural Christians where people simply adopt the beliefs of people around them (therefore they lack the conviction and trust that come with experience), and misplaced hope where people pursue things other than what God is offering.
It is important that we each have our own experience with God, a point that we can refer to that began our trust in God.
The hope of every believer is ultimately to be with God ultimately which is synonymous with His ultimate glory. This alone is what Christ offers. Hope anywhere else is misplaced and will lead to despair.
I have faith because I’ve had an encounter with God that has given me hope of something incomparably better than what I had. The encounter came with a message -a word that matches His Word found in scripture. It’s like meeting a Person and not knowing their name until you come across a picture that identifies them. For me, that encounter was the meeting and the picture was the Word. The encounter was the beginning of my trust that the Person exists. It was so wonderful, it created in me a yearning and a burning that I have to act upon. Each time I act upon His Word, in pursuit of the true hope, it proves to be true, building my trust.
This very way of living, this state of being, is faith. And, these experiences with God—consciousness to even comprehend these encounters ARE THE EVIDENCE. (See John 1:5, 2 Corinthians 4:6)
So, faith, is not just empty philosophy that I believe, it’s substantive. And, faith is not belief in the absence of evidence, it’s a state of being that arises from evidence, producing more evidence, and becoming evidence itself.
#faith #heartwords