Greetings in Christ,
Have you ever looked in the dictionary for the word faith? It is the second word past fairy tale in the Merriam Webster Dictionary. This made me think about the meaning of faith and how best to describe it. I will make mention I had to research this, and much smarter people have given better answers than I could ever give which I will pass on to you.
I wonder if people get confused in thinking about faith making them fairy tales. Last week I wrote on faith being the size of a mustard seed to believe, but it goes much farther. People have faith, but do not know they employ faith in just about everything they do.
Faith is a trust, allegiance to a person or duty, fidelity to one’s promises, sincerity of intentions, belief and trust in and loyalty to God, belief in traditional doctrines, and firm belief in something when there is no proof. We all apply some of those traits in many ways in our lives every day in some way or form. The way we go about arriving to apply faith may be the problem we have in employing it.
Faith has many facets to it and we as humans tend to put our touch and thinking to it in many ways to get it to fit our limited knowledge. The following is from Unger’s Bible Dictionary regarding the process of faith.
Philosophical. Faith viewed philosophically must be regarded as lying at the basis of all knowledge.
We as humans apply faith in two ways. We think of faith first in attaining knowledge, or we attain knowledge to gain faith. We have the tendency when we apply faith from both sides to believe in what our minds can accept because we have confidence in the human mind. Our knowledge rests in our human testimony, but also we have faith in the testimony, all matters of knowledge to lend to be matters of faith.
Theological. Faith in the theological sense contains two elements recognized in the scriptures: there is an element that is intellectual and also an element, of deeper importance, that is moral. Faith is not simply the assent of the intellect to revealed truth; it is the practical submission of the entire man to the guidance and control of such truth.
Intellectual. Viewed more particularly with reference to its intellectual aspect, faith is properly defined as the conviction of the reality of the truths and facts God has revealed, such conviction resting solely upon the testimony of God. These truths and facts are to a large extent beyond the reach of ordinary human process of acquiring knowledge. Still, they are of the utmost importance in the relation to human life and salvation. God therefore has revealed them, and they who accept them must do so upon the trustworthiness of the divine testimony.
Results of Faith. They who receive the divine testimony and yield to it become partakers in heavenly knowledge. Their knowledge comes by faith, yet nonetheless it is knowledge. The scriptures, it is true, recognize the difference between walking by faith and walking by sight, and thus the difference between the objects and methods of sense-perception and those of faith.
Reason and Faith. The relation of reason to faith is that of subordination, and yet not that of opposition. The truths of revelation are in many cases above reason, though not against it. Such truths were revealed because reason could not discover them. They are to be therefore accepted though the reason cannot demonstrate them.
I go back to the dictionary where fairy tales precedes faith by one word. How do we approach faith? A fairy tale or accept faith with its full-face value. We apply faith in many ways in our daily lives, but we only allow faith to be faith when we can reason within our own minds it will work. It is only true faith when we accept the unknown and rely on the testimony of God through the scriptures and believe in His promises. We then can live out the promises of God in our lives giving hope to those who do not understand faith. Faith is walking on the testimony of God, not by our sight in what we believe.
We will never fully understand the depth and width of God, and if we did, He would not be God. To fully trust and accept His testimony from His word is to live by faith, and that is no fairy tale.
“Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart, in the company of the upright and in the assembly. Great are the works of the Lord; they are studied by all who delight in them. Splendid and majestic is His work, and His righteousness endures forever. He has made His wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate. He has given food to those who fear Him;
He will remember His covenant forever. He has made known to His people the power of His works,
in giving them the heritage of the nations. The works of His hands are truth and justice; all His precepts are sure. They are upheld forever and ever; they are performed in truth and uprightness. He has sent redemption to His people; He has ordained His covenant forever; Holy and awesome is His name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever.” Psalm 111
Lord may we live by faith trusting in Your understanding and living in the knowledge You give us. Amen
Blessings,