Discovering Faith: A Lifelong Journey…
For those who have read Listening on the Journey… any length of time, you know that for many years I have chosen a word, theme, or even a question at the beginning of each new year to guide me spiritually throughout the upcoming 12 months.
The second year into this practice, my question was, “What is faith?” Sometime during that year, I read these words: “God’s very character is faithfulness.”[i] From those few words, I came up with a simple definition:
“Faith is placing one spiritual foot in front of the other, walking into God’s character of faithfulness.”
The entire chapter of Hebrews 11 is dedicated to celebrating the lives of the faithful. The chapter begins by saying:
Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see. (Hebrews 11:1 NLT)
A few verses down, the writer makes a powerful statement.
And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. (Hebrews 11:6 NLT)
I’m intrigued by others’ definitions of faith. A couple of favorites, such as the one on today’s introductory photo, come from Oswald Chambers.
Another Chambers’ quote that has resonated with me and with several of my coaching clients the past few weeks is:
“Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose way you may not understand at the time.” [ii]
A couple days ago, I read a thought-provoking faith definition from Mark Batterson:[iii]
“Faith is connecting the dots between past-tense providence and present-tense circumstances. And, I might add, future-tense provision….If God did it before, He can do it again.”
If you have a faith-building quote that has meant a lot to you, I’d love to hear it. In sharing with one another about our journeys of faith, we are doing what the Apostle Paul suggested, “encouraging and building up one another.” (2 Thessalonians 5:11)
