As the writer of Hebrews said, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen.”

As with most matters of morality and eternal substance, our culture has redefined the meaning of “faith”. We are told that one faith is as valid as another, that “all roads lead to the same god.” Faith is looked upon in our culture as a weakness, not a strength. We people of faith are accused of using our faith as a crutch, because we are not mentally strong enough to handle situations through our own reasoning. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Faith is being defined nowadays as a blind hope for which there is no solid evidence. It is seen as an excuse for those who don’t know better, for those who aren’t “enlightened”. (There is a strong irony in that statement.)

Biblical faith is the polar opposite of what we are accused of having.  The difference is in the object (the substance) of faith. The world considers faith to be in something that we cannot be certain of. Their “faith” is a blind hope in something we might wish to be true, but could not prove. They refuse to acknowledge the blatantly obvious evidence of God. In fact, Romans chapter 1 tells us this is a “willful ignorance”:

^“18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹ since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. ²¹ For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

“People are without excuse.”  Rather than being a blind, unjustified faith, true faith is in knowing the object of your faith for certain. We KNOW God. We are absolutely convinced of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. There is no uncertainty in those facts, for the believer. We recognize God’s hand in all of creation, in the miracles of life, in the history and the affairs of humankind, and in the events of our own life.

When a person goes to college, they work for about four years of their life. They struggle through classes and labs, tests and exams, professors and lectures. And when the time comes for them to graduate, they look forward to that day when they will walk across the stage and receive their diploma. They know for certain that it is going to happen. Everything necessary to achieve that graduation has been accomplished. They are excited and filled with anticipation. They have faith they will graduate and receive that diploma, because they are totally and utterly convinced of its certainty. That describes the Christian’s “faith”.

The Christian has worked though the fact that he or she is a sinner. They recognize that there is nothing they can do to save themselves. Then they learn about Jesus, our Savior, who has done everything necessary to win our salvation. We know that he has gone to prepare a place for us, and that we will be with Him in total and complete sinless perfection for all eternity! We know for certain that this is going to happen. We are excited and filled with anticipation for that day to arrive because we are totally and utterly convinced of its certainty. Faith is not blind: it knows the person in whom it is placed. Faith is not a hope because we want something to happen. It is an anticipation of what we know is going to happen. Our faith should be the source of the greatest excitement in our lives. It should empower everything we think and do.

This definition of faith mirrors the biblical definition of “hope”. Hope is not wishful thinking. Hope is the anticipation of what we know is going to happen.

Frank