I Gotta Have Faith*

My daughter and I were recently talking about faith, trust, belief, faithfulness, etc. Faith is one of those religious terms that we assume to understand, but deeper consideration might suggest otherwise. Consider this oft-heard statement: “If you just have (or had) enough faith, then _____ (fill in the blank).” There is a sense of a threshold of faith that once reached, God will grant us our desires. And if those desires aren’t fulfilled, then we assume we are at fault – we didn’t have enough faith, didn’t reach that elusive threshold. (And unfortunately, there are a number of people that are willing to remind us of our lack of faith.)

I suspect we tend to quantify faith, thus “enough” and “threshold” thinking. Personally, I realized that when I quantify faith, then I become the focus, not God. My faith makes the difference. My faith results in _____ (again, fill in the blank). The focus is on me and my ability. I’m pretty sure that if I am the focal point, then surely something must be amiss.

In addition, a quantified approach to faith not only focuses on me but also on the outcome. If the desired outcome happens, then we say “They had enough faith,” But what if the desired outcome doesn’t happen, then what?

Consider the many times Jesus commended and affirmed people’s faith. I think of his response to the faith of the centurion: “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.” (Matt. 8:10). Or the faith of the paralyzed man’s friends: “When Jesus saw their faith, he said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven.'” (Luke 5:20).

As I look at the many occurrences of Jesus commending people for their faith, I see a theme that I hadn’t really noticed before. Most of those lauded didn’t qualify as people with any sort of faith at all, according to the religious traditions.

Many, if not most, were in need of healing. The religious culture labeled, oppressed, and ostracized people with diseases and physical infirmities – they lacked a measurable amount of faith, I suspect. Some were members of the wrong tribe, like the Roman centurion (above) or the Syrophoenician / Canaanite woman who came to Jesus despite the tribal distinctions (see Matt. 15:21-28 and Mark 7:24-30).

In the passages describing Jesus’ commendation of people’s faith, the Greek word translated as faith is pistis. As we typically find to be true with translations from Greek, a single English word is often not sufficient. In their use of pistis, Plato and other Greek philosophers referred to the conviction of the truth of anything, of belief. (Pistis is related to pisteoū, often translated as “belief.”)

The new testament writers used pistis to describe our relationship to God and to Christ. When it relates to God, pistis is “the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things.” In reference to Christ, it denotes “a strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God” (Thayer’s Lexicon). The predominant idea is one of trust (or confidence) in the one true God and/or that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah).

Central to faith is the object of one’s faith.

So what was this faith that outsiders possessed and Jesus lauded? They simply trusted Him. He was the object of their faith. When we think in terms of quantified faith, we become the object. When we think of faith in terms of trust, God becomes the focus. Can he be trusted? Is he reliable? Does he have my best interests in mind? Regardless of the outcome?

A couple of great stories…

From Esther. Esther needed to speak to the king on behalf of the Israelites but it was unlawful for her to approach the king without being summoned – the law said she should be put to death. But she knew that she was the one that needed to speak on behalf of the people. She did not say “I have faith that God will protect me.” Her words? “I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” TRUST.

From Daniel (esp. chapter 3). Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to worship the king’s idols and were promised that they’d be tossed in a furnace if they didn’t. They did not say “We have enough faith and we know God will protect us.” Their reply? “O Nebuchadnezzar…if we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it… But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” TRUST.

Faith: Just plain trust. Not quantified. Not outcome dependent. Just plain TRUST!!!

* “Apologies” for the unashamed use of lyrics from the 1980s George Michael song, Faith.