FAITH

Christians use the word faith a lot. But do Christians really know what the word means?

I believe it is vital for Christians to know and understand the definitions of the words they use all the time; words such as faith, grace, love, covenant, sacrament, etc.

Here is what faith is not:
• It is not simply having a belief in something
• It is not wishful thinking
• It is not being smart enough to be able to use the word faith in a sentence
• It is not having all the Scriptures memorized that has the word faith in them
• It is not a catch phrase
• It is not ‘blind’

So, what is it?

One place to start is the dictionary.

faith /fāTH/ noun

1. complete trust or confidence in someone or something.

Let’s think about this. Let’s ponder it deeply. Having faith is having complete trust. It means you are 100% confident that something is true. Thus, if you have faith in a person, that means you have 100% trust in him. That person is 100% reliable. There isn’t a doubt in your mind. It is “complete trust”. Therefore, if you say you have faith in God, then you are saying you have complete trust in Him. It doesn’t mean simply that you believe God exists. It means you consider Him 100% reliable. He is 100% dependable.

Here is another thing to keep in mind. The book of James says that faith without works is worthless. Now, let’s not confuse “works” that James refers to with the empty “works” that St. Paul talks about in his letters. James is making the point that some people are frankly hypocrites. They say one thing and do another. I think we can all agree that the “faith” of hypocrites is no faith at all! It is worthless. The faith that God wants us to have, the faith that God consistently honors and blesses throughout Scripture, in both the Old and New Testaments, is a faith that is so sure, so unwaveringly certain, that one responds with unquestioning obedience to whatever God asks of that person, even if what He promises or asks of a person may seem illogical, dangerous, or downright crazy. God asked Abraham to believe he’d father a child even in his old age. He asked Gideon to form an army of a measly two hundred to confront enemy armies of thousands, and tens of thousands. He asked Noah to build an ark and told him to just trust Him that He would flood the earth, even though such a thing had never happened before in the history of all mankind, and Noah had never even seen rain fall from the sky. He had never seen a rainbow. God had anointed David as heir to the throne, but David had to put his entire trust in God while dodging enemies on all sides, including King Saul, who were trying to kill him. None of these valiant folk were hailed for their passionate submission to the Mosaic Law, as written in the Ten Commandments and expounded in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. But they were hailed by their faith, their complete confidence that they could depend on God. If God said something was going to happen, they believed it. If God told them to do something, they did it without question because they knew God as an all-knowing god who knew what He was talking about. They loved God and all the things that God valued and loved. They loved all His characteristics. They knew God as a god who was merciful, just, forgiving, gracious, tenderhearted, compassionate, almighty, powerful, a great protector, defender, dependable, honest, honorable, and kind. And God never did anything “out of character”. The Law taught them only that they fell far short of being considered worthy of acceptance as His holy people. They understood that their standing as God’s chosen people rested entirely on God’s faithful willingness to forgive and give them a clean slate every time they repented. Thus, they relied not on themselves but solely on the integrity and character of God. And this is the faith of a Christian – that we are realistic of who we are: flawed, weak, and corrupted human beings, who will one day die and return to the earth as dust – and of who God is: singular (there is only one god), eternal, holy, divine, perfect, all-knowing, all powerful, sovereign king, judge, healer, life-giver, provider, comforter, savior, defender, protector, and friend – AND we act on that knowledge in the things that we do, in at least one aspect of our lives. That is, perhaps we’ve learned to depend on God in our activities in some areas of our lives but not in others, such as perhaps we hit a rough spot in our marriage and we learned to “give it to God” and when we did that, things worked themselves out. Or perhaps you lost your job and you’ve had to depend on God to provide for basic things like food or enough money to pay the bills, something you never had to do before, you always lived comfortably before and kind of took it for granted that you always had more than enough to provide for your needs. Ironically, when we let go of ourselves and the dependence we’ve always had on our own strength to get us through, that is when we are the most free. And that is when our faith in God shines the brightest. And this is precisely the type of faith God consistently honors again and again all throughout Scripture.

Does that mean the Law is meaningless? What did King David do once he was confronted by Nathan regarding his sin? David had slept with Bathsheba, had her husband killed, and then took her as his wife. He had accomplished all this with cold-hearted determination. He had no conscious, no remorse. He was consumed with single-minded possessive lust. But once Nathan confronted him regarding his sin, his heart crumbled. You see, deep down inside, David loved the Lord. He had never lost his love for God. He loved the Lord and treasured all of God’s laws and statutes as being just and fair. When the realization of what he had done hit home, he confessed to God, “Against You only have I sinned.” Surely, he had sinned against a great number of people, but what broke his heart the most was the feeling that he had betrayed God. In his heart he knew he had done everything God despises – lust, adultery, deceit, murder, and countless other sins. He mourned in tears for many days and barely ate a thing. When confronted of our sins, our hearts should respond as David’s did. It should cut us to the heart. If we truly love God, it should tear us up inside. At the same time, we remember also who God is. There is no sin so great that God is unable or unwilling to forgive. We may feel low and dejected, cut to the heart, but at the same time, we can go before the throne of grace in tears and mourning, confessing our sins to God, confident that God who loves us with an all-consuming love, will forgive us and restore our broken spirits. This, too, demonstrates faith. David had faith in the Law as being good and just and also in God’s merciful nature, being someone who also was always eager to forgive a contrite heart.

Some people will say, “I have faith in God’s promises.” But we don’t put our faith in promises. Would you trust a promise made by a con artist to pay you back the money you loaned him? Probably not. But I’m guessing you would believe the same promise if it came from a trustworthy source, like a nun or priest. Thus, a promise is only as reliable as the promise-keeper. But what if you don’t trust nuns or priests. Then you wouldn’t put any faith in their promises either, even if they were good people. Thus, the amount of secure confidence you have in someone fulfilling their promise is only as great as your trust in that person’s integrity. Thus, your trust in God’s promises is directly linked to what you believe to be true about God Himself. If you think of God as distant, capricious, and uncaring, you probably are not going to have much faith in God’s promises to help you in your moment of crisis. However, if you think of God as intimate, merciful, compassionate, powerful, and attentive, you will be quick to call upon Him in faith that he will listen to your cries for help and save you in your time of need. You will be quick to believe in His promises because of what you believe about HIM.
I have often heard it said that God is a “covenant-making God”, as if that is supposed to be a mind-blowing concept. But we make covenants all the time. We get married, make promises to friends and family that we’ll spend more time with them, etc. We make promises and vows all the time. That’s not mind-blowing at all. It’s easy to MAKE promises. It’s easy to exchange wedding vows and throw a party. What’s mind-blowing about God is not that He makes covenantal relational vows with us. What’s mind-blowing is that He would be willing to stay loyal even when the covenant has been broken. There is one and only one condition that is acceptable by God for a man to divorce his wife and that is in the case of adultery. In the case of the covenant God made with Israel, God describes Himself as a husband being married to an adulterous wife (Israel). Over and over again, God reminds Israel, you have broken my covenant. By reminding Israel of this fact, He is saying, “Understand this: Because you’ve broken my covenant, I’m no longer bound by covenant to stay loyal to you or to keep my promises. You are acting like an adulterous wife, and I would be well within my rights to reject you and accept a new people, a new nation, to become my holy people. Even so, I have chosen NOT to reject you – I still love you, regardless of what you have done. Therefore, I choose to keep all the promises I had made to you, as if you had always been a faithful wife.”

Think about this. Ponder this deeply. Do you know anyone who would willingly put up with that kind of abuse?
This is mind-blowing. Adultery is the worst kind of betrayal. Imagine making promise after promise to your spouse, during your marriage’s honeymoon stage, expecting the relationship to last for as long as the two of you are alive, only to find out your beloved has been playing the field. Every instinct inside of you wants to leave this horribly dysfunctional and broken relationship. You feel angry, rejected, unappreciated, and unloved. Your heart is broken, and you know you have every right to leave the relationship for good. Yet, your heart breaks for your spouse. You find it in your heart to still love the person. And you make the conscious decision to not only stay faithful to that person as their spouse, but you are determined to fulfill all the promises you made from the moment you were first wed. If we are honest, we would probably call such a person a fool for being so naïve. That person is headed for heartbreak and disaster if they willfully choose to stay in such a relationship. But God was neither naïve nor blind when he made his decision. He knew what was in their hearts. He knew they’d probably betray Him again and again. He knew exactly what He was getting into. He knew He would ultimately suffer a lot of pain and heartache from a people who refused to listen to Him, time and time again. But by keeping his promises, he crowned them with unmerited favor.

This is the faithfulness of God. It defies all human instincts. Most people would run away from an adulterous relationship. Many walk away from that kind of betrayal feeling resentful and scarred. The depth of human love simply cannot comprehend the depth of pain and sorrow God was willing to embrace on behalf of his chosen, beloved people. In love, He willingly chose to stay bonded with Israel. It is impossible for human love to contemplate that kind of unwavering devotion. It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t sound safe. Why would someone be that faithful to someone undeserved?

While there are some individuals who willingly stay in abusive relationships, they usually do so at great cost to themselves. They are battered, bruised, both physically and psychologically. They’ve been scarred deeply. They may suffer from a myriad of psychological disorders: anxiety, depression, battered wife syndrome, low self-worth, PTSD, alcoholism, substance abuse, etc. God is the only One capable of putting up with abuse and stand unhindered. God certainly grieves over sin, and even punishes us in anger and wrath, but our behavior never affects His character. His character and integrity never changes based on what we do. He never takes back His promises just because we’ve disappointed Him. He never becomes anxious, frustrated, bitter, or resentful over our own “bad behavior”. He never worries and frets over us. He’s never depressed. Never afraid. The magnitude of God’s patient love and tender sorrow for us is so great, that these emotions end up overriding everything else, and only the divine mind of God can supernaturally endure it unscathed.

Our reaction to God’s unmerited faithfulness to us should humble us. It should touch us deeply. There is no other love like this. It reveals to us how precious we are in His eyes. And because we are precious to Him, He is dependable. We can trust Him always.

Will you put your trust in Him today?