Searching for a catchy saying for the church billboard became my least favorite duty as an associate pastor in one church. However, I soon discovered numerous resources from books and Internet sites for these one-liners. Since then, they fascinate me. You can learn a great deal about a church’s belief through its name and especially by reading their marquee over time. A small rural church near our home always catches my attention. Its latest post reads, FAITH IS THE ACT BEFORE U C THE FACTS. Catchy, yes! The problem: it is totally incorrect.
Faith is not a blind leap into the dark. Faith is based on evidence—the evidence of the Lord’s character and His Word, the Bible. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Heb 11:1). Believing in the unseen does not mean a blind leap. I have never visited Alaska and seen a glacier or Hawaii, and seen a volcano. Yet, I believe they exist based on the witness of reliable and trustworthy people in addition to photographs and media presentations. I have never seen God, but I know He exists, based on evidence. The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands (Ps 19:1). Scripture nowhere opposes reason or logic for confirming His existence. Logical arguments provide evidence such as cause and effect—a creation must have a creator; order and arrangement dictates a designer. If you discover a key that opens all the locks, then you know you possess the right key. The existence of God is the key that best explains the facts of our intellectual, moral, and spiritual nature, as well as the facts of the universe; the logical conclusion—God exists. These present merely a few arguments for the existence of God that support my faith. It requires far more implausible arguments to declare there is no God. David writes they are fools (Ps 14:1; 53:1).
Faith begins with knowledge. Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ (Rom 10:17). After hearing the message, faith must move beyond mere intellectual acceptance of a promise or command written in scripture to implementing that knowledge into action by the guidance of this truth. I will show you my faith by my works . . . Faith without works is dead (Jas 2:18, 26).
God taught me a further step essential for our growth in faith. Biblical faith begins with knowledge of Christ, leads to obedience to His Word, and then to a personal relationship with the author, the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus warned the religious leaders, You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me (John 5:39 NLT)! Scripture directs us from knowledge and action to a personal relationship with Jesus. As a student and teacher of the Bible for forty years, I must guard against falling into the trap of viewing the Bible from a purely academic perspective and drifting away from my relationship with Him.
In the closing hours of his life, Paul writes, For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day (2 Tim. 1:12). He did not say, I know WHAT I have believed or, IT is able. He based his faith on trust in the person of Christ. Biblical faith moves beyond just a trust in the written Word. Biblical faith trusts the Person who is the Word. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (John 1:1, 14).
Because the biblical definition of faith often differs from modern definitions, understanding proves vital. False teaching concerning faith abounds. Biblical faith centers on God as opposed to the faith movement, which presents faith as man-centered. Faith does not ignore or deny a problem because someone speaks a positive confession. People have reprimanded me at times, “Don’t say I’m sick. God healed me,” while at the same time sneezing, coughing, and wiping their nose.
Christians live at different levels of faith because faith grows. Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, with the hope that as your faith grows (2 Co 10:15). To the Roman church, Now accept the one who is weak in faith (Rom 14:1). Although weak in faith, Paul recognized them as Christians whose faith had not yet grown strong. One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables. People who practice numerous does and don’ts are usually weak in their faith. They have not matured in a personal relationship.
Sustaining Word for the Week: The value of any faith depends on its object. For Christians the object of our faith is Jesus. Move beyond just knowing the written Word to a relationship with the living Word through the guidance of His Word and the infilling of the Holy Spirit.