Faith

           Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. (Hebrews 11:1-2)

 

          Let’s get my pet peeve with these verses out of the way. Some people say that these verses define faith. They say faith is confidence and assurance. Well, what are confidence and assurance? Some would say, “Trust.” OK, what is trust? “Well, faith.” Using another word that means approximately the same doesn’t really define the term. I love these verses, but they don’t really define faith. Fortunately, the rest of the chapter illustrates it so we see what it looks like even if we don’t understand what it is.

          And as I’ve spent yet another half day bouncing from one task to the next without getting much done, I asked God to talk to me about faith while I made a Strawberry-Zucchini loaf, because I have to use those up! As I dumped this and that into a bowl and used beaters to mix them together, God asked me why I was following the recipe.

          Why do we follow recipes or instructions? Why do we watch tutorial videos? Why did Americans spend 9.9 billion dollars on self-improvement books, videos, programs, aps, etc. in 2019? I suspect it’s because we have faith – or at least hope – that if we do what the recipe tells us to do that the combination will result in something that ends up in a useful form, that tastes good, and nourishes us in some way. I followed the recipe (well, as much as I ever do) because I want a loaf of strawberry-zucchini bread to share with family and I believe…trust… hope that what the recipe says to do will produce that.

          I’ve said before that when it comes to trusting God, it’s not some constant vague feeling. We trust God for things, in situations, through circumstances, or to speak or act. In a sense, we trust God (or perhaps should trust God) the way we trust recipes. Whatever the steps are that we are supposed to do we do (and prayer is the big one here) we do them with the belief that there will be a certain outcome or kind of outcome. Whether we trust that He will, or won’t, we’re still trusting. But, if we go back and forth… He will… He won’t…He might…He might not – that is not trusting.

          And if we think of it that way, it might be said that an atheist, who consistently says that God doesn’t exist and therefore won’t, has more faith than we do as we bounce back and forth between “He will” and “He won’t.” Ouch.