(This article also includes a podcast discussion. Click the play button below, or subscribe and listen on your Apple or Google podcast app.)
The world loves faith. Having faith gives us hope, peace, and a sense of calm. Whenever we doubt ourselves, we just need a friend to come beside, hug our shoulders, and say “Just have faith,” and things are all better. Faith in what? No one really knows, but it’s an important thing to have!
Of course, the Christian world can be just as guilty of not understanding faith. Without meaning to, we often use faith to shut down any conversations that require us to face difficult questions.
- Is there any evidence that God exists?
- Why do we believe the Bible is the inspired word of God?
- What makes Christianity true over any other religion in existence?
- How could a good God allow suffering?
- Are we positive we’re going to Heaven?
These are hard questions that have made people walk away from Christianity. Yet so many answer these the same way: “I dont’ know, I just have faith!”
Is biblical faith a feel-good word? Is it something we have that makes us blindly believe something? Or is biblical faith something else entirely?
Faith defined
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1 NASB)
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1 KJV)
When asked to explain what faith is, most Christians can cite this verse without issue. Of course, quoting and explaining are two very different things, and actually trying to break down what this verse is saying can be surprisingly difficult. And as we’ll see, this verse doesn’t actually explain what faith is so much as what it does.
We see that faith has two important aspects to it. Let’s discuss what each of those is, then look at where faith begins.
Assurance, substance
I’ve quoted the NASB and KJV because original languages have a lot of nuance to them that can’t always be accurately translated into a single word. Here, we see translators use both “assurance” and “substance” to explain a word with a lot of meaning. At its core, this word carries the idea of a reliable foundation.
Picture a chair that has been built, but hasn’t had the finishing touches put on. It lacks stain or polish, but you can tell if a chair is solid based on the quality of the material and the skill of the craftsman. What makes that chair able to support someone isn’t the color of paint nor the intricate designs that are carved into the arms. Its strength and reliability are found in those essential components.
When we say faith is the assurance/substance of things hoped for, God is saying that faith is what makes us able to trust God’s promises. When He says His word is “God breathed,” that Christ is the only way to Heaven, and that we must pursue holiness, we trust those things because we have faith in the one who says it.
Conviction, evidence
While the previous word took us to a craftman’s workshop, this one takes us to a courtroom. There are many things “not seen” about the Chrisitan life. The existence of God, the proof of our forgiveness, and the guarantee that we will spend eternity with our Savior.
Much of our lives are wrapped up in unknowns simply because we are not God. We can’t see Christ’s death in the past, the Holy Spirit living in us now, or God keeping His promises in the future. We simply have faith that all these things are so.
A judge requires evidence to determine if an act took place. Faith is our way of testing whether the things we see in the Bible are true, and whether we’ve actually received Christ or just an emotion. Faith is the convicting evidence that a person’s life has, indeed, been affected by Jesus Christ. It’s what we can point to and determine whether what we’re saying is all talk, or if our salvation and changed lives are based in reality.
But what is faith?
Explaining foundations and evidence doesn’t really answer what faith is. That’s becuase we often see faith as only a belief about something. If we see faith as something that’s only mental or emotional, we miss a critical component that is assumed in Hebrews 11:1.
We know this because we can read the rest of Hebrews 11, which is like the “greatest hits” of Old Testament saints. If you read the chapter, or really read anything the Bible has to say about faith, one thing becomes very clear: Faith isn’t just about what we believe.
Back to the chair
O taste and see that the Lord is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! (Psalm 34:8)
Chairs are perfect for this discussion because, without realizing it, we use them to consistently prove that we really do understand what faith is. Take a look at the two chairs in this image:
One has nice cushioning, a sturdy frame, and clearly has a purposeful construction. The other chair lacks symmetry, a seat, and possibly even enough screws to hold it together. Which chair are you going to sit in?
That’s faith.
At its core, faith is a 3-step process.
Step 1: We must acknowledge the thing we want to place our faith in. In this case, we see that each chair does, indeed, exist.
Step 2: We evaluate and judge the thing asking us to place our faith in it. As we look at these chairs, we must decide what makes a chair worth trusting. Color? Material? Safety? We can’t put our faith in something if it doesn’t meet some basic requirements.
Step 3: We act on our faith. It’s fine to say “I see that chair, and I deem it safe,” but we aren’t giving evidence for that faith without this final, critical step of actually sitting down and proving we have faith in the chair.
It’s that third step that we so often dismiss from our faith discussion. Whether it’s Christians or unbelievers, we so easily treat faith as some form of personal peace or inner strength. When faith is seen as something so light and flippant, it’s no small wonder that we wonder why we struggle to live a life dedicated to Jesus Christ. If faith is somehow separated from our actions, then we become content with an incomplete faith.
As we see in Hebrews 11, God doesn’t point to personal beliefs. He draws our attention to actions; those things each person did in showing that they were willing to act out what they truly believed. As we recall these people of faith, we see the same pattern of “By faith, this person acted.”
As we seek to grow our faith, it’s not enough to gather knowledge or stir up our emotions about God. It’s not enough to claim we have faith if, like in Hebrews 11, that faith isn’t followed by action.
But how do we get a faith that will lead us to action? How do we follow the 3 steps we used with the chairs to determine that God, indeed, is worth trusting? We don’t need to have blind faith because God gives us what we need to trust in Him. Stick around for part 2 to find out how.
Ready for the next part? Click here to see the entire series!
