FAITH

The writer of Hebrews makes this observation about faith: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  (Hebrews 11:1) “Blessed assurance”, as one of those old Gospel hymns reminds us. And it is blessed to have such assurance in our lives.

Faith, in and of itself, is not knowledge but it is as close to knowledge as one can get. We do not know for certain if the sun will come up tomorrow. We believe it will and so we live accordingly. We do not know for certain if we will be alive at the end of the week, but we believe we will and so live accordingly. Most of us do not know how electricity works, but we believe that when we turn the light switch on, the light will respond accordingly – unless the bulb is burned out.

Whether we realize it or not, whether atheist, agnostic or believer, we live most of our life based on faith rather than sure and certain knowledge. We know and understand very much, to be sure, but there is so much more we do not know both about the present and the future. We are finite, fallible, limited human beings who must rely on faith or else we would not dare get out of bed in the morning.

The reason for all this, of course, is that we are not God, again, whether we believe in God or not. Faith is the operative force in our lives. It is the basis for all that we do. Without faith we would be unable to love another. Without faith we would be unable to dream about the future. Without faith life itself would not only not be worth living, it would be unlivable.

Faith problems arise only when our faith is put to the test, which, thankfully, is not all that often. Of course, on the other hand, when our faith is put to the test, it is usually about something that is traumatic: a love gone sour, a job gone south, a dream gone away. It is those moments when our faith in God, in others and even in ourselves is tested that we find ourselves so out of sync that we do not know where to turn.

And yet, it is in precisely those moments that we turn to the only one to whom we can turn, the one in whom we must place our trust: God. When there is a crisis of faith because of some form of betrayal of trust, it is only our faith that keeps us from falling completely apart. Our faith in God holds us together when our faith in everything else has deserted us.

If all this is true, as I believe it is, then we must do all we can to strengthen and increase our faith: faith in others, faith in ourselves and especially our faith in God. Faith is a gift; and as with any gift, if we do not use it, we lose it. If we do not cultivate it, it will not flourish. It will wither and perhaps even die. We neglect our faith to our own peril. We are attentive to it for our own protection.

May we always be thankful for the gift of faith, never take it for granted and live it to the fullest each and every day.