I want to talk about faith. Specifically, I want to talk about the action of faith. That is, the action of practicing faith, as opposed to Faith as a noun. In reality, the action of Christian faith and the noun of Christian Faith are not in opposition to each other. The reality is that they have to work in tandem with each other, and are similar enough to share a name. However, for the sake of this post, I wish to focus on the practice of faith.
So you may be thinking that faith is a pretty broad subject to address in one post. I am fully aware that there are volumes and volumes of studies that have been written and documented on the practice of faith. So this probably raises the question: what do I intend to accomplish with a post such as this? Obviously I can't wax eloquent as so many others have, and I don’t intend to. My goal is to share what I’ve learned recently in my own endeavours to practice faith.
I find it interesting that some consider faith to be very whimsical, in the sense that they consider it to be limited to putting weight in something abstract and intangible. This is simply not a true definition of faith. While the Bible does describe a child-like faith,[1] thus seemingly implying naïvety, the faith which Christ was describing in this instance is not naïve, and furthermore, is so much more than uninformed, wishful thinking.
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”[2]
Sureness, certainty, commendation, understanding.
The above passage has for a long time been a comfort to me. It is a quote which has often reaffirmed where/in whom I place my belief. The above passage is describing faith; however, it's specifically describing one aspect of faith, the action of belief.[3] Belief can be separate from the practice of Christian faith; however, faith cannot be separate from belief. I believe in God, specifically, the God of Israel. I furthermore believe that Jesus, His Son, is God. I believe this because of the evidence for Jesus (eyewitness, documentary, corroborating, scientific, psychological, medical, and circumstantial evidence – all of which I hope to write about at some point).[4] I believe all these things, however, faith takes it that next step. Understanding the evidence for Christ is one thing, and it is entirely necessary, however, I believe God calls us to take our faith to the next level by employing trust. We need to trust that the Lord will fulfill the promises he has made for us: we need to trust the Lord to be true to His Word.[5]
C.S. Lewis was a prominent intellectual mogul of the 20th century, and furthermore, one of the most prolific Christian authors of his era. In terms of articulating the practice of faith, I believe that none (outside of Scripture) capture its essence better than he; “Now Faith…is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods. For moods will change, whatever view your reason takes.”[6] As earlier described, the practice of Christian faith is often criticised as being flighty. The impression I got from Lewis, however, is that faith is the exact opposite. Lewis describes our reason as being wishy washy, and faith as being separate from emotion. In a sense, Lewis means that we practice faith by making an informed decision, and regardless of what our “reason” tells us down the road, we maintain our established beliefs. That said, Lewis makes very clear that whatever changes we may encounter, they are usually those of a more personal nature, and “any real new reasons against Christianity [which may] turn up…have to be faced and that is a different matter.”[7] I agree with this position, however, I might add that in all the years that Christianity has been challenged, it remains a widely regarded, practiced, and prominent Faith, a Faith which I believe to be true.
One thing that I have not addressed in this post is, in spite of all the “description” I provide of the practice of Christian faith, it is something which really remains indescribable. In my own experience, there is something that is, in fact, very abstract about it. However, my belief is that it is the Holy Spirit’s role (among many others) to provide the peace and direction to maintain such a peculiar practice. That, however, is another discussion altogether, one which I will save for another time.
So you may be thinking that faith is a pretty broad subject to address in one post. I am fully aware that there are volumes and volumes of studies that have been written and documented on the practice of faith. So this probably raises the question: what do I intend to accomplish with a post such as this? Obviously I can't wax eloquent as so many others have, and I don’t intend to. My goal is to share what I’ve learned recently in my own endeavours to practice faith.
I find it interesting that some consider faith to be very whimsical, in the sense that they consider it to be limited to putting weight in something abstract and intangible. This is simply not a true definition of faith. While the Bible does describe a child-like faith,[1] thus seemingly implying naïvety, the faith which Christ was describing in this instance is not naïve, and furthermore, is so much more than uninformed, wishful thinking.
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”[2]
Sureness, certainty, commendation, understanding.
The above passage has for a long time been a comfort to me. It is a quote which has often reaffirmed where/in whom I place my belief. The above passage is describing faith; however, it's specifically describing one aspect of faith, the action of belief.[3] Belief can be separate from the practice of Christian faith; however, faith cannot be separate from belief. I believe in God, specifically, the God of Israel. I furthermore believe that Jesus, His Son, is God. I believe this because of the evidence for Jesus (eyewitness, documentary, corroborating, scientific, psychological, medical, and circumstantial evidence – all of which I hope to write about at some point).[4] I believe all these things, however, faith takes it that next step. Understanding the evidence for Christ is one thing, and it is entirely necessary, however, I believe God calls us to take our faith to the next level by employing trust. We need to trust that the Lord will fulfill the promises he has made for us: we need to trust the Lord to be true to His Word.[5]
C.S. Lewis was a prominent intellectual mogul of the 20th century, and furthermore, one of the most prolific Christian authors of his era. In terms of articulating the practice of faith, I believe that none (outside of Scripture) capture its essence better than he; “Now Faith…is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods. For moods will change, whatever view your reason takes.”[6] As earlier described, the practice of Christian faith is often criticised as being flighty. The impression I got from Lewis, however, is that faith is the exact opposite. Lewis describes our reason as being wishy washy, and faith as being separate from emotion. In a sense, Lewis means that we practice faith by making an informed decision, and regardless of what our “reason” tells us down the road, we maintain our established beliefs. That said, Lewis makes very clear that whatever changes we may encounter, they are usually those of a more personal nature, and “any real new reasons against Christianity [which may] turn up…have to be faced and that is a different matter.”[7] I agree with this position, however, I might add that in all the years that Christianity has been challenged, it remains a widely regarded, practiced, and prominent Faith, a Faith which I believe to be true.
One thing that I have not addressed in this post is, in spite of all the “description” I provide of the practice of Christian faith, it is something which really remains indescribable. In my own experience, there is something that is, in fact, very abstract about it. However, my belief is that it is the Holy Spirit’s role (among many others) to provide the peace and direction to maintain such a peculiar practice. That, however, is another discussion altogether, one which I will save for another time.
[1] Mark 10:15, The Bible
[2] Hebrews 11: 1-3, The Bible, New International Version, (Grand Rapids, 1973)
[3] The above passage as displayed is isolated from the rest of the chapter, and furthermore from many other Biblical passages pertaining to the practice of faith. I recommend, if you have not yet done so, to read Hebrews 11 in its entirety.
[4] Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus, (Grand Rapids, 1998), pg. 67
[5] Kenneth Brighenti and John Trigilio Jr., Catholicism for Dummies, (Indianapolis, 2003) pg. 47
[6] C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, (New York, 1952), pg. 140
[7] ibid.
2 comments:
Excellent post. Although faith does require dedication and devotion throughout all seasons, many people do lose hope or become disillusioned with their faith at some point in their lives, even if only for a period. I don't think this makes Faith temporary or flightly though. I think that it shows that God, the source and reason of our Faith, is Himself Faithful to us, and by drawing near to us, He helps us work out our problems during tumultuous times and bring restoration to our Faith. But what about people who lose their Faith entirely? I'd be interested in your thoughts on this in a future post. Keep 'em coming.
Well Derek let me say that is a good idea for a new blog but even more so since Aaron is into dichotomies (belief vs. faith-verb vs noun) it would be good to also introduce the relationship between prophecy and faith. Afterall, prophecy seems to have become an ideation/concept(in want for words) that our 'modern' churches have placed on the back burner so to speak and we witness far less miracles than the earlier church...is it that our faith is weaker?..or is it that we have moved too far away from ground rules including those relating to the prophetic order?
It would be good to hear your thoughts on these matters in future posts.
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