Everybody has faith.
People who invest in the stock market put their faith in equities, other people have faith in their elected officials, others in their families. Whenever I eat dinner, I have faith in my wife’s ability to cook a tasty meal.
In virtually every moment of your life, you are expressing faith in something. We know this by example, but by definition, what is faith?
Furthermore, what sets the Christian faith apart from all other expressions of faith?
Here’s the definition of faith from Dictionary.com: “Complete trust or confidence in someone or something.”
The Bible defines faith similarly: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1 NIV).
Both definitions involve confidence and trust. The difference between everyday faith and biblical faith is the object of our faith, or in what we choose to put our confidence.
Have you ever trusted in someone only to be let down? We have all had that happen at some point in our lives. We may have put our faith in someone, but they failed us. It wasn’t our faith that failed, but the object of our faith.
Your “faith” is only as good as the person or thing that you choose to put your faith in.
When I drive down the turnpike, I have faith that other drivers are paying attention to the highway and obeying the rules of the road. Every so often, though, this faith is misplaced. We call these events accidents.
Each time you sit down, you don’t first take out tools and measure the strength of your chair. You just sit in it. Why? Because your chair has proven through past experience that it can hold your weight. So, you consider it an object worthy of your trust.
Some people have faith in faith. They believe something to be true because, well, they just believe it to be true. In essence, their faith is in themselves.
So faith is only as good as its object. For Christians, that object is God himself.
by Bibles.net
