After these many years as a Christian and actively following God, the one God of the Bible, I have come up with my own definition of faith. Faith is the confidence and trust that God will do what he says he will do. Hebrews 11  and the Book of James both make this definition clear, but first consider a concrete example. Suppose you are driving down the road. Suddenly you see a huge slab of stone or concrete blocking the road. What do you do? You stop before you hit it. Why? Because you had faith (trust and confidence) that the concrete slab did in fact block your way and that it would destroy both you and your vehicle if you kept going forward and slammed into it. Technically this example does not really involve faith; it simply assumes that one can discern reality and react accordingly. Faith, however, involves an unseen (as yet) reality.

Now notice how similar my definition is to that in Hebrews, “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1 KJ2000) Then Hebrews proceeds to give us Old Testament examples of faith beginning with a faith that even today’s Christians must still hold, “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”(Hebrews 11:3) So, by faith we believe that God created the world by his word. Similarly, by faith atheists believe that the universe exists because of a “big bang,” time, chance, and evolution.

The writer of Hebrews, however, attempts to make us see one thing in particular and that one thing is that we Christians ought to have faith because we believe in God’s “word.” Thus he quickly says, “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved by fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” (Hebrews 11:7)

God warned Noah of a coming disaster, a disaster the likes of which Noah had never seen. How did God warn him? He spoke his word to him. Genesis says,

And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make you an ark of gopher wood; rooms shall you make in the ark, and shall pitch it inside and outside with pitch. And this is the fashion which you shall make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shall you make for the ark, and within a cubit shall you finish it above; and the door of the ark shall you set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shall you make it. And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; and everything that is in the earth shall die. But with you will I establish my covenant; and you shall come into the ark, you, and your sons, and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shall you bring into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every sort shall come unto you, to keep them alive. And take with you of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to you; and it shall be for food for you, and for them. Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he. (Genesis 6:13-22)

God spoke his word to Noah giving him specific instructions and commands. Hebrews tells us that Noah built his ark “by faith.” God spoke to Noah. Noah believed God and acted upon that belief. Because he acted upon his belief, because he acted according to his faith, God commended him and Noah thus “became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.”

Faith remains the same for us today. The question for us is, have we heard God’s word? Do we really know that Jesus is the Word of God who became flesh 2000 years ago, lived, and then died for our sins and resulting salvation? Do we really know that God through his Spirit inspired the holy men of old to faithfully write down his words and that those words are preserved in our Bibles today? If we do not know these things then we cannot have faith, for “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” (Romans 10:17)

I doubt that you would be reading these words if you did not possess the faith I mentioned in the above paragraph. But, if you do lack this basic faith, then all you need to do is this, pray to God and tell him that you desire to know the truth about his Word and about his Faith. Tell him you do not have the faith you need to believe the things he says in the Bible. Ask him to show you that the events written there are true and that the precepts are true. Once you believe this you will have faith, for faith comes by hearing the truth of the Word.

But, if you do already have faith that Jesus is the Christ and that he inspired holy men of old to write down his words in the Bible, then realize that you do in fact believe those words. Then realize that if you believe what the Bible says, then you had better do what it says. Understand that God means it when he says that he is coming for a pure and spotless Bride and for a holy people. Understand that you can never enter into New Jerusalem (heaven) until you shine like the purest of diamonds. And then, understanding these things, ask God what such a faith demands that you then begin doing and cease doing.

And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone that does righteousness is born of him. Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God: therefore the world knows us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure. (1 John 2:28-3:3)

The point I want to make here is that God’s Word should be as real to us as seeing a concrete block in the road! If we see his word as reality, then we will act upon it. This is faith! It is the substance (the works, the acting out) of things unseen! If we will continue to walk by faith, then we will ultimately be conformed to the very image of God!

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)