HOW DO YOU DEFINE FAITH? by Michael J. Kruger for Core Christianity
While our modern world might distance itself from many Christian concepts, faith is not one of them. Our world loves to talk about faith (think Oprah Winfrey), and even sing about faith (think George Michael). As far as our culture is concerned, faith is a feeling—a positive outlook on life. Faith is great.
But what is that rosy view of faith based on? Often it means having faith in yourself. It is about becoming who you’re really meant to be.
That idea does not stand up to scrutiny. Faith becomes just something that you conjure up in yourself. It is something to add to the list of things that we need to do in order to be successful. And it doesn’t work with the reality of what people are like. After all, if true faith is all about looking inward and seeing how great I am, that is not such good news. I’m a mess!
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The biblical definition of faith is radically different. It is not about being a positive thinker. Instead we are called to take our trust and place it in something outside ourselves.
Hebrews 11 is sometimes called the Hall of Faith. It takes us through many Old Testament saints and reminds us of what God can accomplish through his people when they trust him. But the key lesson is not “Go out and do great things.” It is not about you or me and what we can achieve if we just have faith. Yes, it is a call to have faith; but it is really about the object of our faith: the person we are trusting in. The main theme of Hebrews 11 is trust in God.
This leads straight into Hebrews 11:1, which gives us a definition of faith.
The Certainty of Faith
“Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)
Faith is not just a feeling. It is not just saying, “I hope it’s true.” It means being certain about something. Notice the two key words in this first verse: “assurance” and “conviction.” Faith is rock-solid trust that when God makes a promise, it is true and right. It is absolute assurance and confidence that God’s word can be relied upon.
In our day, if you claim to be certain that your religious convictions are true, you are likely to be condemned as arrogant. You can see why: if I claim that a religious truth is really true, then that means that I think someone else’s version of religion is not true. And that is not fashionable in our world today. The biblical definition of faith swims right against the tide of our culture.
