The Nature of Faith, Part 1

For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? but if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
Romans 8:24-25, NKJV

I've been thinking about the nature of faith, and in my little red book I have jotted down some Scriptures to remind me of what the Bible says about faith, and its constant companion of hope. Even now as I read back over them, I am moved with a deep stirring of something more than just emotion. Here is the bedrock, the foundation of everything I am and want to be, the cornerstone of belief and practice. Here is where everything begins and ends for me.

I believe in something greater than myself, something I cannot even see.

I believe in something authoritative and final, something ultimate and all-powerful.

I believe in something full of love and benevolence and kindness and generosity, and which directs those gifts toward me.

I believe in something which is both understandable and beyond comprehension, both infinite and yet tangible, something immeasurable and indescribable--and yet I want to try.

I believe in something which speaks, sometimes audibly, sometimes almost imperceptibly, but which wants me to hear what it is saying.

I believe in something that guards and guides me, protects and provides for me.

I believe in something that watches over me at all times, and in always has my best interests at heart.

I believe in God.

I believe in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who put off heaven and came to earth to live a life of example for me, to die a death of substitution for me. And I believe that after his death, He rose again immortal, so that I might have immortality through belief in Him.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, who is God's presence and power working in me, the precious promise of the Father received as a gift by the Son and poured out on me in overflowing abundance.

I believe in heaven, and in an eternal place of abode for the saints and their Savior.

I believe in my need for salvation, and His unfailing desire and ability to save me.

I believe in His many great and precious promises to me.

And none of those things are things I can see with my natural eyes. I cannot fix my eyes on the sky, raise my finger to a particular position in the starfield and say, "There! There is God. There is heaven." I've never been there. I've never seen this God I believe in, this God who loves me, this God who has saved me, and which God I serve. I've never seen Jesus Christ, in a vision or otherwise. I've never seen an angel, though I might have seen evidences of one once or twice. I've never seen the Spirit, for He is like the wind moving through the trees; I don't know whence He comes or wither He goes, but I can clearly see what He does.

I believe in what I cannot see. And that is the nature of faith. Faith doesn't need proof, although faith is eventually rewarded with sight. Faith doesn't need verification or validation. Faith is powerful, and it is personal, and either one has it, or one does not. Faith is a choice to stand still and put one's hope and confidence and trust and belief in that invisibility which is infinitely greater than anything I can see.

And then I wait.

If I can see it, if I can touch it and hold it and handle it, then it is no longer faith; faith has become sight. But if the things I wait for are still unseen, not yet visible, not yet revealed, then I simply continue to hope. And because of my faith in a God who has never let me down--not once, not ever--but has continually demonstrated His goodness toward me, I wait eagerly for the fulfillment of all His words and promises to me. I know that what He has promised, that will He also do. What He has started, He will be faithful to complete in me and you. And I also wait in patience, in perseverance, and in hope. For hope in Him is a hope that does not disappoint.