I read a bit from Corrie ten Boom lately. Not an autobiography or a biography, but a little devotional called Each New Day. As I sit here on the coffee shop patio, sipping on my latte, I look at that ancient little book and realize that each of those words lined up spell “END,” and I wonder. I wonder, dear reader, if you know your end and have your gaze fixed on the prize.

It’s interesting. Three books are on the table, each one a testament to someone’s faith. One belonged to a little woman who survived Nazi occupation and fought for freedom, trusting her End enough to know that it was only right that she do His will. One, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, belongs to two men, educated by men and God, wise enough to realize that the truth has only ever pointed in one direction.

The last is probably the only book that will truly matter. It was written by God. Through forty different authors, over 1,500 years, in four different languages- all by God.

What Faith Is

Hebrews 11:1 (ESV) says, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” The book then goes on to tell of the many, many men and women who died (except Enoch!) in faith for the promise which they looked forward to- Jesus, the One through whom we could have salvation. It lays out the beautiful story all the way to the famous faith of the pagan prostitute Rahab, whom the Lord used to bring his people into Jericho.

The author goes on, listing the many violent deaths these people suffered in the name of faith, looking forward to a promise they’d not yet received. And then the chapter ends with this thought in vs. 39-40 (ESV), “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.”

So… what?

What does this mean for the Christian today? I like what is said next in Hebrews 12:1-2, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith…”

As I am writing this, it is May 5^th. In that little devotional whose acronym is END, written by a little woman who stood against a giant and lived to see it felled, there are these words for that day,

“Many people hesitate to accept Jesus because it would mean giving up a sin they have grown fond of. They know they are too weak. Yet, if they put their lives in Jesus’ hand, He will be able to provide the needed strength!”

Brothers. Sisters. What has weighed you down and hindered you in the race God Himself marked out for you? What in your life has taken your fixed focus off the Lord who saves you? What -or who- has entangled you? And what has the Lord told you to do about it?

What Faith Looks Like

You see faith is shown by action. As told by A Pocket Lexicon to the Greek New Testament and A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible, faith has several defining characteristics- a complete trust and reliance on something, in a manner of constancy. I think I like best how the Lexicon puts it, so I will quote that, “generally of the leaning of the entire human personality upon God or the Messiah in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom and goodness.” Consistently.

My friends. We all believe in something. It may be the President, perhaps an ideology, perhaps a faint but fantastic dream, perhaps a lie forced on us by another, or even Christ Himself. But listen. Your belief is shown to be a living faith in something real when it begets verifiable, consistent action. In a Christian’s case, this action is godliness, or “becoming more Christ-like.”

Faith is the one thing we cannot afford to misplace. When we each finish this race, whether we run the marked course or not, we will all meet Jesus at the finish line. And when we do, we each will bow a knee, and we each will confess He is Lord. 

Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Do you hear that? If faith is the assurance of things unseen- that promise of salvation and rest to come given through Christ. If faith looks like the complete reliance of the entire personality of a person upon the personhood of God, that same Christ, what does that mean for this life in our bodies?

The truth is this- faith implies surrender, because it cannot be without God. This is also a gift from God. I was reading in my study bible, getting more and more frustrated as I tried to understand. “God, why me?” I thought, “Why do I have to talk about faith? I couldn’t even define it for you. What even is it I am meant to have faith in? Help me to understand what the key is, the point. I am missing something important here.”

Interestingly enough, I had just finished a conversation with a friend where we discussed this very topic. She was kind enough to listen to me flounder my way through trying to explain this very post. And flounder I did. Why? Because I didn’t know. I had written all of this, read all of this, and spoken with all these wise people. But what was faith? How was I to recognize it?

But there it was, the answer to my question, at the end of references to faith in the back of my Bible, a little blurb that the translators had put in “What is faith?” That would surely tell me. A lot was said. But two things stuck out in their thoughts. That was that faith, too, is a gift from God, and we get it by asking the Lord for the seed of faith.

Ephesians 2:8-9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast.” It is God’s unmerited good favor- grace- which saves us. It’s something of a grace sandwich. Jesus died in our place by paying the penalty of all our sins on the cross- grace. Then God has given us even further grace- faith. This tiny little mustard seed within us, which believes in this fact of salvation through Christ, that as it matures, can become the biggest tree in the garden.

Perhaps this may be linked again to Hebrews 12:2, which says that Jesus is “the pioneer and perfector of our faith.” The beginning and the end, the totality. He is the one in whom we have our faith, and He is the one who gives us faith, and it is even by Him we sustain and nurture it to grow and survive, so it is not dead.

How ironic that in the conversation with my friend, we likened faith to a plant, hope to fruit, and love to the soil. Faith is the essence, the realization, and the commitment of what is to come- our hope, Jesus. It’s pointed out in 2 Peter 1:5-11 that walking out faith is something that requires commitment as we are exhorted to “make every effort” to add facets of godliness to our faith. That is where the fixed focus on Christ consistently comes in, I think. God gives us the seed of faith, and by His word and Spirit, we water and feed it with discipline and endurance.

And How?

So how can we practice this watering of our seeds and plants of faith? How do you run the race, relying on Christ with all that you are, with constancy? Take heart! Remember, Christ is the perfector of our faith, too.

Hebrews 12:4-11 (MSG) says this, “In this all-out match against sin, others have suffered far worse than you, to say nothing of what Jesus went through- all that bloodshed! So don’t feel sorry for yourselves. Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children? And that God regards you as his children?

‘My dear child, don’t shrug off God’s discipline,

But don’t be crushed by it either.

It’s the child he loves that he disciplines;

The child he embraces, he also corrects.’

God is educating you; that’s why you must never drop out. He’s treating you as dear children. This trouble you’re in isn’t punishment, it’s training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God’s training so we can truly live? While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God’s holy best. At the time, discipline isn’t much fun. It always feels like it’s going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off big-time, for it’s the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.”

God doesn’t just give us faith and call it good. He even nurtures this faith within us and prunes it through discipline, so it produces a bountiful harvest, resulting in a mature Christian. And what do we do?

Recall what we said earlier: faith is a consistent, complete leaning of all that we are upon the personhood of God. Friends, this is where it gets so cool.

“Jesus replied, ‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’

There you have it. That is what faith looks like. Can’t do that? Same. Ask Him for help, ask Him for faith. See if He won’t help you out.

“Be still, and know I am God…” Psalm 46:10