I was asked to write a letter to a young family member on the subject of what faith is. I have cleaned up some of the personal mentions but I thought I would share it here for your perusal.
Faith...
Faith is... as the word tells us... the substance of things hoped for.
It is the evidence of things not seen. In other words... it is what we
hold onto when we do not yet see any visible reason to have hope.
Faith is... our conviction that a thing is true. Some have faith in
science. (Actually we all have a certain amount of faith in Science)
They believe it is true and so that is faith. Some have faith in God.
Some have faith in their religion or their denomination. Some have
parents, teachers, friends etc in whom they can have faith. They
believe the relationship, the love, the faithfulness they see in those
individuals to be true and they put trust in it.
Faith is not... a magic wand that we can wave when we need it.
Faith is not... meant to be something that operates on its own but is,
instead, something that was meant to be a part of a larger thing.
Some feel that faith is a belief you have that your prayers will be
answered and that statement is not untrue. But that is only part of the
picture. That type of belief is most powerful when it is part of a
larger faith.
When we pray about something we say we are having faith in God. That is
certainly true and I would never say that it was not. But "faith in
God" is so much larger than that.
When we put our faith in God that means we believe Him. All of Him.
All of who He is. All of what He says. When we put our faith in God
then it causes us to seek to understand His ways and His wisdom. We
view Him as wiser than ourselves and we adjust our lives accordingly as
we learn more of His ways.
Quite often people will say they have faith in God and yet they will not
have any portion of their life where they are continually trying to
learn more about Him. Then... when something happens and an answer to
prayer is needed they will pray saying that they have faith in God and
yet they don't really understand what real faith in God is.
Real faith in God is a belief that, as the word says, His ways are
higher than my ways like the heavens are above the earth. A belief
that, as the word says, the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom
of men. When I find someone in my life who is wiser than myself and who
has the knowledge that I need to walk a better way then I try to learn
from them.
All of the laws of God are true.
The law of gravity
The 2nd law of thermodynamics
Centrifugal force
All of these laws are true and, try as you may, you won't break them.
If I crawl out on the end of a limb then the law of gravity says that I
am about to hit the ground with a mighty thud.
If I crawl out on
the end of that limb and hit the ground then should I be surprised that
it happened? No... not at all. Because it is a law of God... a law of
nature.... and these laws all say... if you do this... then this will
happen.... if you do that... then something else will happen.
The laws of God concerning the way we live our lives are the same way.
If I live my life according to the ways that are pleasing to me... if I
live my life according to my own wisdom... if I live my life the way I
see wisest... then the result of that way of living will, inevitably, be
strife, turmoil, emptiness and disappointment.
If I live my life according to the one who created me. If I try to
learn how He would live His life in my shoes today. (Sorry Buster...
but I am going to use you for an example... I hope you don't mind)
WWJD.. What would Jesus do? Would Jesus have skipped school? No... I
am pretty sure he wouldn't have.
That is the beginning... That is how we begin having faith. Having
faith in God is a life changing thing. Having faith in God is believing
that God is not only wiser than myself but also realizing that His ways
are something that I want to and need to learn.
So each day...WWJD... What would Jesus do.
When it comes to how you are going to react when that girl smarts off to
you in the hallway... What would Jesus do? Yeah... you're right... she
DOES deserve a swift kick in the behind... according to our wisdom...
but whose wisdom do you have the most faith in?
When it comes to you being approached by someone who wants you to do
something that you know you ought not do or that you know your parents
would REALLY be upset if they found out about... What would Jesus do?
Whose wisdom are you going to have the most faith in?
I've said it before but it bears repeating.... Faith is a life changing
thing.
Having faith in God is not something we do in a moment because we
believe He answers prayer. Faith is something we live every single day
because we believe every word that He says.
And... it is inevitable that you will reach a WWJD moment and it will be
something that you think "this is too hard.. I can't do this". Yes
ma'am... you are 100% correct. But HE can. He has the strength and he
can help us have it.
Faith causes us to weigh everything we do against His wisdom. And then,
because our faith is in Him and not in ourselves, when we find a moment
when it seems too much for us to do it His way that is when we pray and
ask Him to help us be strong and help us do this the right way.
Sometimes we fail and, even though we knew better, we do the wrong
thing. Do you remember hearing about the gold tried in the fire? Here
is the way I want you too look at your moments of failure. (In case you
weren't aware... we all have them
)
The gold is put to the fire. Then the dross comes out (the dirt & junk
in the gold) and when the dross comes out then the one purifying the
gold is able to remove the dross and the gold is now more pure than before.
You are the gold. Something may happen and you might react in a way
that you didn't even expect. You might see something in you that you
didn't even know was there. Know this... God isn't shocked. He knew it
was there and he isn't shocked or repulsed. What has happened is that
you have been put to the fire and something has come out in you that
wasn't visible before. Instead of being ashamed it is really a time to
be thankful.
You say... "Thank you Lord... I didn't even know that it was in me to do
that. Thanks for showing it to me and if I could have done it any
different with my strength then I would have done it differently so I
need you to help me change that in me so that I can be more like you"
He will answer that prayer. It probably won't be in a week. It may not
be in a month. But He will build that strength in you for one reason...
you asked... okay 2 reasons... you asked... and He loves you.
This is getting too long and you are going to delete it if I don't stop
soon.
What is faith?
It is the conviction that something is true.
When you are convinced that God is true, wise and worthy of following
after then it will change your life forever. One day at a time. One
character trait at a time. One step at a time.
We are taught that faith is something you work up when you need an
answer to a prayer. On the contrary, faith is an attitude we have
towards God that, once we get it, will begin changing our entire life
and we will never, ever be the same again.
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