Are you a person of faith?
To a question like that, some people will say a definite yes. Others will say they aren’t. There may also be those who need a little more definition to the word ‘faith’ before committing themselves one way or the other.
Keep the faith
Faith isn’t necessarily something that is confined to the religious or overtly spiritual. Secular society, contrary to what you may think also embraces and relies upon faith. Ever heard someone encourage you to ‘have faith’ when you’re facing a difficult situation or struggling with life? Faith is the belief that things will work out okay. Faith keeps us hopeful. It’s about having confidence that what we rely upon will continue to be the way it should. It’s faith that causes you to trust that the sun will rise again each morning. The complete reliance you place on your heart to keep beating is a form of faith.
Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the rewards of this faith is to see what we believe – Augustine of Hippo
We see displays of faith in action every single day and very often take them for granted. Some types of everyday faith are justified more tangibly than others – your faith in the movement of the earth around the sun is confirmed each morning. Whereas other acts of faith take a bit more time and trust.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said that faith is taking the first step, even when you don’t see the whole staircase. Our faith can be the belief that circumstance will work out okay even when you’re not completely sure how that will happen. When you look at faith in that light, it’s obvious that everyone needs a certain amount of faith in order to do anything in life. It’s a fundamental building block that propels us from where we are towards where we hope to be. Without faith there is no hope, no trust and no assurance that life will improve or even continue.
To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible – St Thomas Aquinas
As good as their word
Faith is not about having concrete proof beyond any doubt that something is sound or real. Faith is having a trust that something (or someone) is what it claims. We have faith that our marriage partner will uphold their vows, that the car we are in will deliver us safely to our desired destination or that the medicine the Doctor gives us will make us well.
Faith is the assurance of things you have hoped for, the absolute conviction that there are realities you’ve never seen. – Hebrews 11:1
As with many things though, faith is only as certain as the thing in which you put your faith. You can choose to have faith that a chair with a missing leg will hold your weight when you sit in it, but regardless of how strong your faith is, that chair will most likely still give way and you’ll end up on the floor.
So, are you a person of faith? And maybe more importantly, what or who are you putting your faith in?
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