F is for FAITH

It's such an important word that it's used two hundred and fifty six times in that exact form throughout the NIV Bible, yet only fifteen of those are found in the Old Testament. And that number is reduced to two out of two hundred and thirty one for the King James version. If you include all derivatives of the word, especially faithful and faithfulness, the NIV has a total of four hundred and twenty two mentions of which about a third are in the OT. Maybe I'm wrong but I just get the feeling that being faithful was more important in Old Testament times and after the time Jesus came, faith itself became the central core of our relationship with God. So I thought about exploring this a little bit more and went to the dictionary to get some light shed on the exact meaning of faith and this is what I found.

Faith is a confidence or trust in another person. It is also classified as a belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence and as a belief in a power that controls human destiny. But faith can also apparently be used as a substitute for a religious persuasion or denomination, for example, someone of the Hindu faith or Roman Catholic faith. But I know that the one definition that sits most comfortably on my shoulders is that which says 'the trust in God and in His promises as made through Christ and the Scriptures by which humans are justified or saved.'

Yet I'm still confused! I know people who are talked about as having a great faith, yet often the evidence would suggest otherwise. I've been to funerals where the minister has eulogised about the deceased as being a wonderful person with a deep faith, even though they only attended church on special occasions. Maybe, on hindsight, the word 'faithful' would be more appropriate sometimes, because in its definition, the concept of some form of religious belief is not always so obvious or indeed central. Faithful can mean to be thorough and dependable at work, to be good at keeping promises or vows, to be loyal, show allegiance, reliable, trustworthy, truthful and devoted and while all these are commendable attributes, they hardly find exclusivity among believers and often are missing from the lives of even the greatest professing Christian.

So if I'm looking for a really accurate definition of faith, I can find no better than what Paul writes in Hebrews when he says 'Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.' Then I read in that same chapter as Paul lists men of faith including Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses' parents, Moses himself, the Israelites at the Red Sea and at the Walls of Jericho and all the others such as 'Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.' And I realise that faith is not just about believing in Jesus as Saviour and being certain of the eternal life we hope for in confidence. For it is also about being faithful and living a life where the God whom we have never seen infuses every fibre of our bodies, is in charge of every decision we make, even when He leads us down a road that we may not want to go.

And isn't it interesting that Paul tells us 'All these people were still living by faith when they died.' I guess they were faithful right until the end of their lives on earth. And even though we haven't seen Jesus in the flesh, we have all the essential evidence to have faith in Him, from the miracles He performed, from the witnesses of His time here on earth, from His own Father and of course through the writings contained in the Bible. Didn't Jesus Himself say, 'Search the Scriptures' and as I pondered these words today, I was drawn back to Isaiah 53 and those so accurate prophetic writings of the prophet. Today I read it in the New Living Translation and realised how God spoke about His Son through those who had faith and were faithful. And He still speaks today. So it doesn't matter that I didn't live in the time of Jesus, see His miracles or witness His death and resurrection for those who were there, saw it all and those who lived many years before predicted it, through divine inspiration. Anyway, 'We live by faith, not by sight.'