What is faith?

According to the book of Hebrews, faith is the "assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen". But what does that mean to today's disciple of Christ? Let's look at a dictionary definition of "faith":

1. confidence or trust in a person or thing

Okay, makes sense. As in, "I have faith that you will keep your promise to me". But is that what faith in God is? Is it confidence in Him? Let's keep looking at the definitions we find in the dictionary:

2. belief that is not based on proof

Well, that's a good one too. It sounds a lot like the verse from Hebrews. What else does this wonderful dictionary have to say about faith?

4. belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc

(Yes, that says number 4 and the previous number was 2. I skipped the 3rd definition.)
One more definition:

8. Christian Theology. the trust in God and in His promises as made through Christ and the Scriptures by which humans are justified or saved.

Aha! So, if I look at all of these definitions, I find that faith is confidence, trust, belief without proof, belief as a code of ethics. These are all very good. But I'm left returning to my original question. What is faith? How do I have faith in my life? What do I need to do to have faith? How do I know if I have it? Does my faith show to others?

In the coming weeks, we'll be looking more closely at faith and it's application in the Christ Disciple's life. Check back in for more on faith.

And in the mean time...keep the faith.


-Matt
APP blogger
2/17/2008