“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1) Strong words eh? Faith. What a concept. It can inspire a person and break a person all in one breath. Faith has enough connotations to fill an entire library of written work on it; however there are some key points that make it very important to my own life.
Growing up in a church setting my idea of faith when I was young was probably different from most people. The Christian kid’s definition of “faith” probably means something more like “belief.” I put my “faith” in Jesus at a young age, thinking I knew what this meant. I thought that faith meant just believing that Jesus died on the cross and would save me from sin, blah, blah, blah. How wrong I was.
I lived my life as a young kid never having the faith I had in the important things to me challenged. I had faith in my parents, I had faith in God, I had faith that when I hit high school I would find the guy I loved and get married. This faith I had was challenged time and again as I grew older. The faith I had in my parents was broken when I saw them start to make mistakes. The faith I had in God was challenged when things I could not control through my “faith” happened to me, where was God then? Did He even exist? The faith I had that I would fall in love in high school absolutely did not happen. What now? What has this faith done for me?
“… being sure of what we hope for…” Why did I hope to fall in love so young? What good would it have done me? Most likely I would have broken up with the guy by now and have an unhappy relationship under my belt. Why were my expectations for my parents so high? After all they are only human, despite their mistakes they have been good to me and raised me well.
“… and certain of what we do not see.” God. Is He there? How do we know? Why does He allow bad things to happen? This question is probably one of the most controversial questions to ever be asked in the history of the earth. For me the answer is simple, yes He exists. How do I know? Because of the purpose I feel when I serve Him. Because I know that every good thing I have must come from somewhere, and if there isn’t someone who created it with me in my mind, why is it here? I cannot answer the question why God lets bad things happen other than this, He is all knowing. He knows why and I must have faith that He is doing what is best.
Faith. I live my life by it. Faith means to me that no matter how many times I have been let down by something I still trust it in the end and the good that will come from it. Faith is that thing that drives me to wake up in the morning and live in this world despite the letdowns.
Works Cited
“Hebrews 11:1.” Bible: New International Version. n.d.
