Faith that Can Be Seen
When it comes to having faith, I do not believe that God “left it up to us” to just trust Him blindly as if there is no history or evidence to back up who and what He is which is, God over all things.Romans 1:20 states, “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse”. This means God reveals Himself to us not only through experiences or word of mouth but even throughout His creation and what can be seen visibly with our natural eyes which leaves us with no excuse to not believe.
So let’s break it down even further, referencing Hebrews 11:1 which defines faith. Faith used in this passage is translated as pístis which in Greek means a conviction of the truth in something, having a definitive belief in something. So, pístis, faith, defined in Hebrews 11:1 is the “substance of things hoped for, evidence of things not seen”.
What does that mean? We can see it’s broken down into two sections. First “faith is the substance of things hoped for...” What does substance mean? If we look at “substance” used here it is translated as, “that which has a foundation, is firm.” So if we piece that together with what is being said in the first part of the definition we can define faith as having a “firm foundation” in what we hope for or what we believe will come to pass. There’s a “substance” behind what we place our hope in. We’re not believing based on something flimsy which we believe today and then tomorrow we are easily swayed to believe in something else.
Have you seen some who proclaimed to have been Christians and having had faith later say they no longer believe because of differing situations or experiences? Those would be who James in Scripture would call “double-minded men” (James 1:8). Most would say they have faith but yet do not know why they believe and then when their faith is often tested it’s easily swayed. That’s not the type of faith that God calls us to have as Christians or faith that ultimately pleases Him. James 1:6-8 further says, 'But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways”. This means that when you come to God, believe and trust if it be His will, God will do whatever is asked of Him because He is more than able and capable of doing so. And if you do not truly believe because often it is hard to trust, ask God to help your unbelief as the father did in Mark 9:24 when faced with such a difficult moment in his pleading with Jesus to heal his deathly sick daughter.
So, let’s break down the second part of that definition of faith defined in Scripture, stated: “the evidence of things not seen”. The evidence here means “proof, that by which a thing is proved or tested”. Putting that together after defining it separately, what Hebrews 11:1 is ultimately saying is that faith is defined in scripture as having a strong firm foundation in your conviction of what you hope for because of the evidence/proof of what has been done in the past. God has been tried and tested before by so many and shown Himself to be trustworthy. God has already proven himself to us in so many ways whether through our personal experiences with Him, what we’ve seen Him do in other’s lives, or even through Scripture being revealed to us of His character and actions throughout history.
So, when someone says they have faith in God ask them what that faith is based on. And if they say, “Well, I have blind faith,” you can confidently turn to them and say, “I have faith based on what I know because God has given me ample “evidence” in proving Himself to be real and true to me. I don’t trust blindly but rather I have faith that has been tested and based on what I have seen to be true by God.”
