Today, much is attributed to faith because we define it so broadly. When an athlete believes he can come back from a serious injury, we say she has faith. When a child writes a letter to Santa,
we sometimes call that faith. When a father believes that his long-lost son one day will return home, to many, that is faith.
In the Scriptures, however, the lines are clearer and the definition narrower. For, in the Bible, faith is merely believing God’s promises and resting in His Word. Nothing more or less. Here, faith is not in self, or fantasy, or a blind, irrational hope. In fact, faith is quite rational, given the fact that God has revealed Himself through Creation, His Word and His Son.
That is why our homespun definitions of faith so often fall short. They are based upon a New Age idea that if somehow, some way, enough people believe something long enough and strong enough, it will come true. As if we humans create truth, or what is true, or set the ground rules for the cosmos.
While we have great freedom to change our lives through our decisions and work, it is just as certain that for all of our efforts, we can no more change what is real than we can make 2 + 2 equal five. But in the heart and mind of faithful, what God has promised is as certain as arithmetic, and sometimes, given our condition, just as difficult to comprehend. Faith does not change God; it changes our relationship to Him, and puts us in touch with His very heart.
(Read through Hebrews 11 for a clear picture of what biblical faith is and how it works in real life.)
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for,
the conviction of things not seen.”
Hebrews 11:1