The Question of Faith

What is faith? It seems like an easy question to answer, but maybe it’s not. Lately I have been contemplating it and it seems a little more difficult to answer than what it appears at first glance.

In order to help answer here are a couple of definitions:

Faith is trusting in a person – Be it friend, family or acquaintance, we have knowledge that leads us to believe that we can trust in this person.

Faith is trusting common sense, or knowledge – The idea that you know a stool has four legs and a seat, it is put together with glue, screws and/or nails and therefore, it should hold your weight if you sit on it.

Faith is also trusting in the unseen – Whether it is the wind or the smell of cookies hot out of the oven, we often believe in things that we cannot see. Sometimes, we can see the cause or effect of something, but not always. Whatever the case might be, we trust that our senses know what is around us and therefore believe in things that we cannot see.

To sum it up: Faith is a belief based on trust in a point of knowledge.

The faith that I have been thinking about lately is faith in God and how it requires the same faith that trusting a person does, yet, we make it a lot harder on ourselves to trust him. To have faith in God as a person, we have to have some knowledge of him, the more knowledge we have the more we can trust. So, how do we find knowledge on God? We can talk to other people, we can talk to him ourselves and we can learn about him in the Bible. Which brings us to trusting in common knowledge. In order to trust what the Bible tells us, we have to trust that it tells us the truth, and that it is the Word of God. We also have to trust in the unseen. This seems like it should be the hardest thing to trust. Yet, we believe there’s wind because the leaves in trees move when it blows through them. Why is it harder to believe in a God that when he moves, miracles happen, people change, people move? I think in some cases it’s easier to believe that there’s an unseen God then it is to believe in a God that we can trust as a person. We can see the evidence of God in many things, but often we do not trust enough to take him up on his offer of friendship and fatherhood.

So, here is my question for you: At what point do you say, “This is the point of knowledge that I trust in and therefore, this is why I believe”? If you can answer that, I think you have a strong grip on the first step of trusting God completely.

Now, as I said, I have been contemplating faith a lot lately and I wanted to just do a short post about it, but it has turned into a bit of a series. So, this is the first installment and below is a preview of the next couple of posts, which I hope to post in the next week or two. Please feel free to leave some feedback, ask questions, start a discussion, whatever you would like to do. If I take too long in posting the next installment, send me a reminder! Thanks for reading!

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Faith in Action

Obedience: What is God waiting on you to do?

-       How to take the step that God is asking you to take.

The Orphan’s Cry

-       Trusting God enough to cry out with our needs and know that he will hear us and respond.

Above the Influence

-       Showing daily faith in an environment that is contradictory and detrimental to your faith.

Time Flies By

Things have changed a lot since the last time I posted. One reason it has been awhile is because I lost my username and password but recently found them and decided to get back to writing.

I could take the time to go back and reflect on the past year and everything that has happened but I think that would take far to long to actually do. So, I'm just going to pick up here and see what starts coming as I start writing again.

Hope to post again soon!

Always a Witness

A saying that I have always heard is that in everything you do, you are a witness; you are either a witness for God, or for Satan. So, who are you witnessing for? In this society it seems that we have forgotten to stress how important actions are, or perhaps is more along the lines that we have begun to think that actions are not important. After all, in most cases our society judges only by outer appearances. This is why you have women going and spending their money on magazines that tell them what the newest trend is and then buying the hottest trend, only to find out that there is a new trend! For guys, all I will ask is how many hours a week do you spend in a gym working out and trying to get the toned body and overall look?
Here is what I am getting at: What do people see when they look at you? Do they see a materialistic girl who cares only about how she looks? Or do they see a God-fearing, loving and worshiping woman, who cares about how she can show God’s love to those around her? What about you guys, do people see a guy who is egotistical, selfish and cares about nothing other than himself? Or a God-fearing man who is not afraid to show the more vulnerable side of himself in order to prove how weak he is and how strong God is? Who are you being a witness for, Satan or God? As you go through your day, just think about that, think about the things that you do and how they affect others. Is there something you need to change, and if so, are you going to?
True devotion calls us to be like Christ in everything we do and say. True devotion calls us to take up our cross. Take up our cross, and carry it. To nail our pride to the cross, along with everything that holds us back. Whether it is memories, other people, selfishness or anything else that entangles you, throw it off, nail it to the cross! Live your life for Christ. Be a witness for that which you believe in, not the thing that tries to drag you down. Something I once heard was that “your life might be the only Bible that people read.” Think about that, what are people reading when they read you?

“I hope that my achievements in life shall be these - that I will have fought for what was right and fair, that I will have risked for that which mattered, and that I will have given help to those who were in need that I will have left the earth a better place for what I've done and who I've been.“ C. Hoppe