Bob Tamasy
Faith is a curious thing. We can’t see it, hold it, smell it or taste it. People talk about it all the time, but it doesn’t mean the same thing for everyone.
‘You’ve got to have faith,’ we’re told – but faith in what? When the subject turns to “people of faith,” that can include people coming from a wide range of religious and spiritual backgrounds and beliefs, some that follow tenets diametrically opposed to others. Then there are those who seem to think simply having faith in faith is enough. “I have faith that things will just work out.”
Faith can manifest itself in many ways. There’s the faith we all exercise in driving down a two-lane road, trusting the driver in opposite lane won’t swerve into ours, or the person at the next intersection will heed the stop sign and not pull out in front of us. We have faith in the physician who prescribes treatment or medication for our latest malady. Couples happily exchange wedding vows, having faith that their partner won’t later forget those vows.
We board airplanes in faith, trusting pilot and crew (and the plane) will transport us safely to our intended destination. We accept jobs in other parts of the country, selling the house and uprooting the family, acting in faith that the new job will work out. So, even non-religious folks have faith of some sort. But what’s it based on?
At its essence, Christianity is all about faith. A full chapter in the Bible is devoted to citing exploits of many heroes of the faith. It opens with what amounts to a definition: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). I like the New King James translation: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
But faith, the Scriptures inform us, isn’t a passive pursuit. Genuine faith demands action. Someone has termed it as, ‘putting feet to our faith.’ Because the Bible gives us many examples of people who took the first step before the Lord responded, whether providing for their needs, delivering them from danger, or performing miracles.
Hebrews 11:7, referring to Noah and the ark recounted in Genesis 6-8, states, “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” God had promised to save Noah, his wife, sons and their wives from the global flood – but Noah first had to obey by building the ark, something no one had ever done before.
Then the chapter cites Abraham, who put feet to his faith in the most literal way: “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8).
This was hardly Abraham’s only step of faith. James 2:21-22 reminds us, “Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.”
We can hardly turn a page of the Bible without encountering someone who either acted in obedience to God, according to their faith, or chose to rebel because they lacked faith. Here are some examples:
The prophet Elijah, who built an altar to God and had it drenched with water, so when God sent fire from heaven to consume it, that would expose the prophets of the false gods (1 Kings 18:17-40).
The impoverished widow who obeyed another prophet, Elisha, by gathering empty jars from neighbors. God miraculously filled them all with oil, enabling her to pay off her debts and meet her and her sons’ needs (2 Kings 4:1-7).
Brothers Simon (Peter) and Andrew had spent an entire night without catching any fish. But at Jesus’ request, they again let down their nets, catching so many fish the nets nearly broke (Luke 5:1-11).
Jesus’ mother Mary, who came to Him when the wine at a wedding feast had run out. When He instructed that large jars be filled with water, the servants Mary had summoned did as they were told and Jesus turned the water into wine (John 2:1-11).
The invalid Jesus encountered who had been crippled for 38 years. When Jesus commanded, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk,” the man obeyed, standing for the first time in nearly four decades and walking – maybe even running – home (John 5:1-8).
The “walk of faith” for a follower of Jesus truly is that, putting one foot ahead of the other as we seek to go as the Lord guides and do as He directs. It’s not perching on a park bench somewhere, waiting for God to do something to resolve our problems or intervene in our circumstances. God does His part, but He also expects us to do ours – by faith.
The apostle James stated it this way: “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such a faith save him?... Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do…. As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead” (James 2:14,18,26).
We’re saved by grace through faith, as Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us. However, genuine faith inevitably reveals itself through action on our part: Waiting when the Lord impresses us to wait; moving forward when He tells us to go. What is the Lord asking you do – in faith?
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Robert J. Tamasy is a veteran journalist, former newspaper editor, and magazine editor. Bob has written, co-authored and edited more than 20 books. These include ”Marketplace Ambassadors”; “Business At Its Best: Timeless Wisdom from Proverbs for Today’s Workplace”; “Tufting Legacies,” “The Heart of Mentoring,” and “Pursuing Life With a Shepherd’s Heart.” He writes and edits a weekly business meditation, “Monday Manna,” which is translated into nearly 20 languages and distributed via email around the world by CBMC International. The address for Bob's blog is www.bobtamasy.blogspot.com. His email address is btamasy@comcast.net.