Music of Life: Faith (Part 2)

Now that we have determined that everyone has some amount of faith, and the amount of faith needed to do the impossible is a small amount. It may be a good idea the explore the idea of what faith is.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible (Hebrews 11:1-3, NASB).

This ever famous and foundational depiction of faith gives us the most direct definition of faith that can be found in the Bible. There is a balance of action and words that reinforce each other and solidify the validity of our faith. Standing in this balance places us in a position which God has prepared for us when all His pieces fall into place and create a firm foundation for our feet to land on. Paul's words challenge us in this manner as well; "for we walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7, NASB). Faith is defined, in the passage from Hebrews, as having a confidence or belief that something that cannot be seen or maybe even proven is coming or will happen. This confidence or belief is viewed by the owner of the faith as being a present reality, even though it will be seen later. The possessor of the faith may not even be able to explain it any better than they "just know." To that individual though, it is real and concrete because God is the One who makes things out of nothing. His supplies need not be inherently visible nor actual, yet they are boundless and more than sufficient for any task. God is the only one who can truly create. We simply rearrange at best. We can take the supplies we have and make new arrangements of those supplies that have never been seen before, but we do not make the supplies. God truly creates because He makes things out of nothing. This Creator is the one whom our faith should always reside in. For it is by faith that we truly live and find ourselves: "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6, NASB). We can be pleasing to him by coming to Him in faith. If we seek Him, we are expressing to Him that we believe that He has more for us than what we currently have. He rewards us because He desires to give us deeper and meaningful lives than we could imagine for ourselves or currently have. In movies, the hero always persists because he believes there is more and where he wants to be is not where he currently is. The author of Hebrews makes this same claim about the heroes of the faith that he wrote about in chapter 11: "But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them" (Hebrews 11:16, NASB). He had already prepared a city for them. They believed that He had a place for them that was better that what they had and believed it to the end of their lives: "All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth" (Hebrews 11:13). Their faith in God was strong enough to carry them to the end of their lives. They were probably told they were crazy by others who did not share the same vision, but they remained persistent. They arrived at their promised "better country" because they did not give up and did not stand still. No one achieves a great finish without leaving the starting line. There are no guarantees that marathon runners will finish the race if they start, but they do it anyway. When they arrive and have conquered the course, they have reached the place they believed existed but had not seen until they got there: the finish line. They did this despite all the thoughts that the finish line never seemed like it was coming. The heroes of the faith finished their marathons of life that God had set before them. The Apostle Paul, as he near the end of his time on earth, joined them in saying, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing" (2 Timothy 4:7-8, NASB). Our faith is our mode of transportation. "For we walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7, NASB). Their is not a good adventure movie out their that does not have a high degree of faith involved in it. The character must act in faith to accomplish the goal. We are no different.