“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”- Hebrews 11:1
So I began to ponder the question; what is faith? This question would seem to be an easy one. After all it is one of those words that have been a part of our language and culture since time on end. How often have we sung; “Have faith in God though your pathway is troubled?” I cannot even begin to count the number of times I have told one of my children or my wife that I have faith in them. We speak of it, but do we really know how to define it? The writer of Hebrews says that it is the “substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” I don’t know about you, but that definition kind of leaves me scratching my head and trying to figure out the meaning of the meaning.
You see, in that description of faith we are told that it is found in something we cannot see but hope will come about. Sounds good, but how do I put faith into reality? So, let’s do a little word study together. The word being used in the New Testament for faith is the Greek word “pistis.” As I was studying this word I found that it comes from the root word “peitho” which actually means that you rely on, trust in, and have confidence in something. And out of this word comes pistis or faith. To have faith in something is to quite literally have the moral conviction that it is true. And then, out of this conviction you act on that truth. If you say that you have faith in your spouse then you should act as if you have faith in them, you should trust him/her.
Let’s put it in a more concrete example. Many of us have had the opportunity to fly from one place to another. Sometimes that experience is a positive one, and sometimes not so positive. But in every single instance of getting on a plane and flying through the air you have exercised faith. You have placed trust in the mechanics to keep the plane in airworthy condition. You have acted on the conviction that the pilot is not an idiot and actually knows what he or she is doing. Sometimes our faith is misplaced and the experience is a bad one, but more times than not we find that our faith has been vindicated by the successful outcome of the flight. You were not there when the mechanic checked over and worked on the plane. You were not a part of the pilot’s training, nor were you there before the flight to see if the pilot was in a sound frame of mind. You simply had to trust in things you could not verify and act on the confidence that you would arrive safely.
So welcome to the world of faith. At that moment, as I looked at that stain glassed window I was reminded of the reality of faith. I read one time that if you want your church to be a growing church then act like it is growing, live out of the belief that God is and will continue to do His good work in your church. Faith is not that I know how things will come out, it is found when I act on the belief and conviction that God is in control and will solve the problem. God seemed to be saying to me; do you have faith in Me. If you do, act like it.
When you are in the dark places in your life and you cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel you have a couple of choices. You can sit and wallow in your grief and pain. Or, you can get up and move. Recently I was reading the book The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien. There is a point in the book where the main character, Bilbo Baggins, was lost deep underground in a dark tunnel. He was thoroughly miserable and just wanted to lay down in the dark, too tired to move forward. But then he realized that he did not want to live out his days in that dark hole. He knew he could survive and that there had to be a way out of the dark. He then got up, and started moving forward. He did not know how it would end, but he was not going to give up, he was going to have faith that he would find the light at the end of the tunnel. And that is the beginning of finding our way out of our dark times. To have faith that God knows our situation and can bring us into the light once more. And then, not only do we need to have the head knowledge and that belief in God’s ability; we must then act on that belief. We must have faith.
Now that sounded good to me. I wanted to have faith in God’s call and plan. But I was still sitting there, in the dark. How do I act on this faith? In the case of Bilbo Baggins, he had a Hobbit’s unerring sense of direction. I do not. So God, how do I know which way to go in the dark place? You may be ready to say to Him that you trust Him and are prepared to step out on faith, but we still need to have a direction to step. As I sat there pondering this slight problem I then looked to my left. And there at the other end of the cross beam of the cross was the second stained glass window. And on it, once again, was one single word…HOPE.
(to be continued)
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