Faith
What is faith? When you say you have faith in God, and faith is Jesus, what do you mean? I am sure you have been asked that by non-Christian friends and acquaintances at school and work. So, how do you answer that question. The great British Christian writer, C. S. Lewis, said:
It is the change from being confident about our own efforts to the state in which we despair of doing anything for ourselves and leave it to God.
*From Mere Christianity, Harper/Collins Publishers, 2001*
"Leave it to God." That sounds so simple, and yet it is not something everyone understands and is willing to do. I know what it is to be told continuously that you must "depend on yourself." To rely on God or a "Higher Power" is a "cop-out." To help you with that, I have a few suggestions from Paul.
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Hebrews 11:1And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Hebrews 11:6This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Romans 3:22-24Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.
Romans 5:1,2
Faith also means trust. There is a great old hymn that is one of my favorites that says,
Trust and obey. For there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
Again I will turn to C. S. Lewis for advise in this area.
To trust Him means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already.
*IBID*
I suppose the most important thing to remember about faith, and to convey to the non-believer, is that faith is part of a relationship, a partnership. As the hymn says,
As we do His good will, He abides with us, still, and with all who will trust and obey.
As we try to live the way God wants us to, learning along the way that we can trust Him, we develop a relationship with Him. As that relationship grows closer and stronger, our faith because stronger. And, eventually, we act on that faith which has come from having a closer relationship with God through his son, Christ Jesus.
Be brave. Be Bold. And may the peace and grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
Thanks for stopping by. Please email any comments you might have. Peace.