Faithful on Fridays Blog

Watered-down Faith

If you watch any Christian TV you’re sure to find the word faith thrown around a lot. Granted, faith in God through Jesus Christ is what sets our belief system apart from other religions but have you ever tried to define it? After checking the original language, Hebrew, I found 9 different words that we translate faith or believe. Well, I’ve done the groundwork for you so here are the Cliff Notes.

Faith is believing, no surprise there, but not just believing a fact like the sun will come up every day or when you drop something, gravity will kick in. It’s believing God by trusting Him. It’s trusting that He has the strong arms of a loving parent always there beside you to give support. You depend on it. That’s faith.

I think this word has lost some of its meaning in this century. It’s become watered-down and lifeless; let’s bring out more life with some added meaning. Faith is the certainty that God will do what He says He’ll do. We can have confidence that whatever we or a loved one are going through He’ll support us and get us through. In fact, one of the Hebrew words has safety and security attached to it; faith gives us that assurance.

Another aspect of faith or trust is the idea of rolling oneself onto the Lord. I’m sure you’ve heard people say, “I’ve just given it to the Lord,” but Biblical faith is more than that. Trusting God with a difficult situation means you’ve rolled the disappointment, the worry, the frustration, or the fear onto the Lord. Have you ever tried rolling a snowball? You push and push on your own until it gets bigger and bigger, then you can’t push anymore. It’s true faith when you give one last heave and roll it onto God. You decide to trust Him and His divine ways with confident expectation and you wait patiently for His promises to be fulfilled. That’s the hard part but that’s the clincher.

Do you have anything today that you are believing and trusting God to do for you or a loved one? He’ll be there for support as you endure the wait. You can be confident of that truth but also be certain that what you are trusting Him to do is promised in His Word. Move away from material things and into spiritual realities: peace, joy, hope, belief or just plain help. Have faith, my friends, as you roll your fear, your worry, your frustrations, your anger, your confusion, or your ‘anything’ onto the Lord. That’s kingdom living and that’s the good life; it’s based on faith.

Let’s try to live like Father Abraham who, “never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. (Romans 4:20, 21 NLT)

Faith watered-down? Not anymore.