Faith is not what we usually think it is.
We are used to thinking of faith as if it were a substance
like steam or water. If we have “enough” faith, we can more mountains. If we have “little” faith we are weak. If we “increase” our faith, we can do more,
but if our faith “decreases” we can do less.
But faith is neither strong nor weak, small nor great. Faith is not something we possess in amounts. It does not matter how “much” faith we have,
as long as we actually have it. Jesus
said if we have faith the size of a grain of mustard seed—not even a whole
mustard seed, but a grain of one—we have enough to move a mountain. It is not
the amount faith, the quality of the faith we have.
The Greek word for faith—pistis—may
also be translated “trust.” Though the
objects of our faith may be differ, we must all trust something.
Even trust is not a large enough word to encompass
faith. Faith is more than passive
trusting, but is also active of vision. It
is not only what we rest upon but also what we hope to be; not only what we
worship, but the realm in which we live.
Our faith is our ground of being and the reason for our existence.
Faith is not something that exists solely among Christians--or
even among religious people. It takes just as much faith to be an atheist as it
does to be a Baptist. It is the content
of their faiths that differ, not whether or not they have it. Philosopher/theologian Paul Tillich defined
faith as our “ultimate concern” without which nothing else can be done. A
well-integrated faith is one that encompasses our entire life, giving us both
reason and hope.
Our faith gives us the structure on which we build our
lives. That structure varies greatly from person to person, but the process of
building upon it is essentially the same.
All our thoughts, feelings, connections, actions, interpretations, and
hopes are based upon our faith framework.
If our framework is inadequate, our lives have problems. If our
framework is inconsistent, it will not hold up in trouble.
People often complain of having only a “little” faith, when
actually their problem is that they have too much, or precisely too many. A person with small faith actually has
trouble believing in one thing over all their other choices. Jesus declared “you
cannot serve two masters.” Having faith in God and our own self-confidence
creates a divided soul. To partially
trust many things is to completely trust nothing. It is not to trust our senses, feelings,
experiences, or the voices in our head, but to put them all into one.
A life of faith involves sacrifice and commitment. A life of
doubt is a dalliance, jumping from one object to another, without complete
commitment. A life of faith is a united
life, directed towards one ideal, not split into pieces, but whole. A life of doubt is a divided life, uncertain
what to trust.
The purpose of this blog is to explore the many ways that
faith forms a framework for the Christians’ lives, and how we can better build
on the foundation of Christ. Every
Christian life is unique. We approach worship, theology, and even social ethics
with from many different perspectives, and we all display our own uniqueness and
individuality in the outliving of our faith. Nevertheless, our faith in Christ
is the same, and faith is the same, however it is expressed.
It is our purpose in this blog to explore how we can better
connect in every area of our lives to the central core of the Christian
faith.
My hope is that you, these pages will not be a lecture, but
a discussion. I welcome your input and contributions. Over the next few months, I will include a
lot of material from my as-yet-unpublished book The Faith Matrix. (When it is published, I hope you will buy it!) But that is not the end of what I hope will
come out of this discussion. I want to explore the many different aspects of
faith and how to practically explore the many dimensions of faith, to grow into
conformity to Christ.
As you read this blog, please look up the other information
included in these pages, especially the paper on faith formation.
I hope you will also subscribe to this blog, and feel free
to comment or respond. It is my hope
that this blog will become a place to share journeys on the road to becoming
more like Christ for any and all believers in Him.
