Faith is complicated. And simple. Many times I’ve heard phrases like, “just have faith” or “I’m a person of faith.”  What does the speaker (or the meme-maker) mean? I venture to guess that the first suggests that the speaker is exercising “positive thoughts” about some desired situation yet to be resolved. The second seems to say that she considers herself to be moral, upright and one who thinks about “spiritual” things with some regularity.

 

But the truth is that FAITH depends on what or to whom it is applied. I believe many people are not totally clear about just what ‘faith’ means.

Here is the main part of the definition I found on www.dictionary.com.

Noun

• Confidence or trust in a person or thing:
• Belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion.
• Belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.
• A system of religious belief: the Christian faith; the Jewish faith.

Notice that the first definition requires confidence or trust of something or in someone. Let me give you an example.

I can stand staring at a chair and declare most emphatically “I have faith that chair will hold me if I sit on it.” But until I actually sit on the chair, my ‘faith’ is just words. Until my action matches my declaration, I don’t really have ‘faith’. The one who has true faith knows what he believes about the object of his faith and is willing to completely trust himself to that object with its implicit message: “I will support you”.

In the case of the chair, we need to know how it is made. We need to know it will be capable of holding us up if we sit in it. If it is made of flimsy material or the joints aren’t glued or screwed adequately it cannot hold us without collapsing. It cannot support us even if we say with vehemence and stern authority that we have faith in it. If the object of our faith is untrustworthy our faith is useless and downright dangerous.

It is the same with our need to know just what it is that will happen to us when we die and where we will spend eternity. Many people have a vague ‘faith’ that their good deeds will outweigh their bad actions. Others think “everybody goes to heaven” with ‘faith’ that God won’t send any one to hell or maybe there isn’t a real hell. Others avoid thinking about the subject altogether. The truth is that we all will die and we all will face the judgement of Almighty God. Where we spend eternity will be the result of what and who we trust.

Eternity is long and the afterlife is real. A real heaven and a real hell exist. There IS a God to whom we will bow and answer for our deeds. On that solemn Day of Judgement what will we say? Jesus says He is the Way to a right relationship with God, but how do we know Who and what is Jesus? Can we trust Him with our soul and eternal destiny? I urge you to read the Gospel of John (especially chapter 10) for a clear answer to that question.

Being a Christian says that I trust or believe specific things about Jesus Christ that will influence my life and my eternal destiny. What is it exactly that I believe and trust about Jesus?  Upon what is my ‘faith’ based?

The Apostle Paul succinctly states it in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4:

“For I delivered to you, as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”

God is perfect and holy, we have sinned and deserve His wrath as punishment. Jesus- God Himself- came to live among us as a real man.  He was crucified and God the Father laid all our sins on Him.  He died in our place under God’s wrath so we do not have to face that terrible judgement. He raised from the dead and lives forever so that we can have eternal life. His perfect life, His death in our place and His resurrection assure only those who believe in Him that they have been saved from their sin and will live forever. There is no other way to approach God and to be sure of our entrance into Heaven.

 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way narrow that leads to life…” Matthew 7:13-14.

So if I believe this about Jesus, how does faith act? It takes God’s Word, The Bible, seriously. It hears what God says and obeys what He has commanded. It believes the promises He has made. We obey Him when He says “have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:3.  We believe Him when He declares “the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4: 7.  These are examples of exercising the faith we have been given by our gracious Heavenly Father.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2: 8-9

QUESTION:  So do you just say you have ‘faith’ in Jesus without really being clear what it is that you trust and believe? Do you act on your faith? What does your faith show itself to be genuine?