Stepping into the Light

Today I'm starting a short series on "What is Faith". This first entry is a slightly modified excerpt from the "Faith vs. Works" chapter of my new book, "Stepping into the Light, You're a Christian, what now?"

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ―Hebrews 11:1, KJV

Photograph by Lynn CummingsDoes chapter 11 of Hebrews suggest that faith is to believe we will get anything for which we hope if we just ask God? No, faith is not a magic wand. Hebrews 11 does say that faith puts a wrapping of reality around the hard-to grasp guarantee that God will keep all of His promises; faith makes those promises real in our hearts even before we see God’s promises fulfilled. The more developed our faith, the less we worry about whether or when God will keep His promises. Faith tells us that though we fall short, God cannot fail.

God’s perfect faithfulness casts a shadow in the heart of each believer. The closer one moves toward Him, the larger the shadow (one's own faith) emerges.

Once upon a time I thought that faith was a matter of gritting my teeth and squeezing my eyes shut as though I could strain out more faith through mere determination and prayer. But we must study God’s word to know His promises before we can assert faith in them. The greater our knowledge of God’s word, the stronger a foundation we have for our faith.

If I don’t know God’s promises, my faith can’t be based on anything but misapprehension or fantasy. I will expect things from God that He will never deliver, and then I will find myself disappointed. I may even become bitter against God, all because I did not bother to learn what I should expect from Him.

What if I told you that I used to stop at Burger King some mornings to pick up a hot, convenient breakfast, but one day I wanted my shoes shined too because I had an important meeting first thing at work that day. The Burger King attendant wouldn’t shine my shoes and her manager rejected my request too, so I got angry and never went back to Burger King. Would you think I’m crazy? Should I know better than to try to get my shoes shined at Burger King? Why? Because I’ve read the menu and seen the television ads and never did Burger King promise to shine my shoes.

Well, the King of the Universe, God Almighty, has also provided me with a menu of promises and an advertisement of all He will do and has done for me. It’s called the Bible, and I need to read or listen to the entire collection of books in it in order to know God’s will, His ways, and His commitments to me. Lasting faith requires first learning God’s promises, then believing those promises and behaving as if I believe them. No magic wand.