Something I’ve been reflecting on recently.
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” – Hebrews 11:1
Faith is not a thing that can be placed. It is not a commodity that we possess, like so many chips at a casino, to place on a specific number in hopes that the craps wheel lands on our guess…
Faith is a perception of reality. An “assurance” and a “conviction”.
Faith and belief are the same concept, as used in the new testament.
Faith does have an object. You believe in something. More accurately, having faith is accepting as reality, a concept, truth, statement of fact, etc.
When you faith something, (believe something), you aren’t choosing to acknowledge one reality over the next arbitrarily. Your reality shifts to include the thing you have faith in.
It is an “enlightenment” of sorts, though not in the buddhist sense, but in the “fumbling around in a dark room until someone flips the light-switch on” sense.
We are not told to “place our faith”, we are told to “have faith in God!” or another way to put it “believe God!”. It is also my conviction that this is not something an individual can do on their own. This sort of belief is a work of the Holy Spirit.
Do a word study on Faith with this lens. See what you come up with.
This is a thought in process and I’d be interested in hearing what you have to say about it. It is unrefined and needs help, which is why I posted it. Help.
July 7, 2009 at 10:50 am
I think your correct that faith is a place we arrive at once we have fumbled around through trials. I think what we do choose is trust. I either have faith or I don’t, but what I think builds faith is the act of trusting God. Every trial we go through is ultimately a test of how much we trust God to be good to us. When we begin to trust God, we stretch our faith and make it stronger. So for me, in a sense, trust is the day to day expression of faith, and faith is my track record of trusting God.
July 7, 2009 at 10:59 am
TJ, Agree. I’d put it this way.
As we trust (and thus obey), we find that the thing which we are believeing/faithing is true. (God’s word doesn’t fail us.) And so our belief/faith is reinforced, or, in a sense, proven. As in scientific repetitive testing, the more times a thing is proven, the more bold we become in asserting it.
July 7, 2009 at 11:37 am
I left this comment on FB but will leave it here too…Okay, the title intrigued me…right, faith isn’t necessarily tangible except that what is produces may be. Or lack of faith in contrast. Sort of like you mentioning ‘belief’. You could go further and say faith is trust. It is a growing ‘thing’ like belief and trust are. The better you know someone the more trust you have in them as well as … Read Morefaith and belief because of who you discern them to be. Or lack of faith, trust and belief because of the same discernment. There is varying degrees of each? “Ye of little faith…” “My good and faithful servant”…”But without faith it is impossible to please Him”…”…“Because of your unbelief;”…”Your faith has made you well”…”and purified by faith in Me”
July 14, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Matt, your perspective was long my suspicion, and awhile ago I came across someone else who agreed, Dallas Willard. he put it this way in The Renovation of The Heart (pg248) “One of the worst mistakes that can be made in practical ministry is to think that people can choose to believe and feel differently. Following that, we will mistakenly try to generate faith by going through the will…rather we (our will) must be moved by insight into truth and reality. … We never CHOOSE to believe… We CAN choose to turn our minds toward these (biblical) truths. Belief will come as God’s gift within the hidden depths of our life and will grow under the nurturing of the Word and the Spirit.”
A little thought experiment confirms this…try to choose to believe the sun won’t rise tomorrow. No matter how hard you grit your teeth, you cant choose to believe something like that unless you brainwash yourself with somewhat convincing information that the sun indeed won’t rise tomorrow.
August 27, 2009 at 2:21 am
Well i think Faith is not something superficial it more of a feeling that comes from within and at tht moment you knw its for real …sometimes its in the form of a conviction other times its an assurance
October 16, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Interesting perspective on the "feeling" piece. What is it that gives you that idea?