” Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” Hebrews 11:1

“Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. So we are made right with God through faith and not obeying the law. After all, is God the God of the Jews only? Isn’t he also the God of the Gentiles? Of course he is. There is only one God, and he makes people right with himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law.” Romans 3:27-31

We are going to talk about words and their meanings a lot on this blog. Why? Because words matter. Their meanings matter. The context in which they were written matter. The culture and time they were written for matter. And their longevity to carry those meanings matter to us in the present. My three favorite words in the New Testament are faith (pistis), love (eros, stergo, phileo, & agape), and grace (chara). First, we are going to explore the word faith (pistis).

Faith is one of the hardest concepts for people to grasp. That it is not our works that gain us entry into heaven, but our faith is what makes us wholly and blameless in God’s sight. This word faith, that Paul uses many times in his writings, is the Greek word pistis. It carries the idea of a person who is faithful, reliable, and steadfast. Someone who is devoted, trustworthy, dedicated, and unwavering.

The whole chapter of Hebrews 11 gives us examples of people who demonstrated faith from the Old Testament. Verse 2 goes on to say, “Through their faith, the people in the days of old earned a good reputation.” Over the next few blog posts we are going to explore those who demonstrated their faith in God, and how these examples relate to us now, in the present.

If you follow along with me in Hebrews 11, the writer talks about our faith in God first. Why? Because everything is through him, by him, and about him. God is who He says He is and does what He says He will do. And He does it through faith. Verse 3 explains that “By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.”

Our faith starts and ends with God. Even when we don’t understand the bigger picture, God does. Even when we don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, God sees. All we have to do is walk in faith. Easier said than done. How many times in your life have you had to take a “leap of faith” without knowing what the results were going to be? How did you do it? Did you do it blindly, or in the confidence that something was going to happen as a result?

There is a difference in blind faith and true faith. Blind faith is believing something without any reason of believing it. True faith, is having faith in someone, or something. In the case of Christianity, genuine biblical faith expresses itself in the everyday lives of God’s people. Because of their faith that God is who He says He is and does what He says He will do, the people of the Bible were able to do the things they did. They had the belief that whatever it was God was telling them to do was for a reason. They never had the bigger picture. They didn’t see exactly what God’s plan was but they did what they were called to do, sometimes not even understanding why they were doing it, but wholeheartedly trusting that God had a plan.

It is the same with us today, we walk by faith and not by sight, trusting that God has a plan. It takes courage, strength, and perseverance to do this. Where do we gain those characteristics? By reading our Bible and learning from those who walked before us, those who walked by faith in God. Are we going to do this perfectly in our lives? No way, none of us are perfect! Neither were the faithful people God gives us examples of in the Bible. Do we believe in God because faith makes sense, or because faith doesn’t need to make sense?

Follow along with me on this journey of faith. Trust and believe that God is a God of promises, even when we can’t see the bigger picture, and rest assured that all who earnestly seek Him- who act in faith on the knowledge and understanding of God that they possess- will be rewarded!

For our faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God…1 Corinthians 2:5

God loves you and so do I,

Leslie