Hint: Faith is not a particularly religious word at all. We exercise our faith all day long.

When I first learned to drive, it occurred to me rather alarmingly: “What prevents those oncoming cars from crossing over and colliding head-on with me?”

The answer is, nothing but the sanity and good sense of the other drivers in the oncoming lanes, i.e. faith.

It is the same when we fly on an airplane, go under anesthesia for surgery, or walk across a bridge. We are depending upon someone or something else doing their job.

Faith is not some magic force or power. It is a perfectly reasonable transfer of trust, based (hopefully) on factual evidence, that we’re making a good bet.

Of course, we should avoid those more “fingers crossed” notions like gut feelings, impressions, probabilities, positive thinking, etc. as much as possible.

The gambling industry thrives on such tenuous “hunches” all the time.

These principles apply to religious faith as well.

The object of your faith is everything.

In my early childhood religious experience, I was constantly frustrated by demands for me to “just have faith,” essentially urging me toward what I saw as “blind faith.”

Decades later I learned that faith was never meant to stand alone like that. My faith needed a “partner,” namely a worthy object upon which to rest my faith. That’s because the merit (procuring value) is not in my faith, but in the object of my faith.

Of course, there is always the danger of misplaced faith. People bet on the wrong things all the time.

I’ve heard stories of drug addicts who jumped out of windows thinking they could fly. That takes a lot of faith, but sadly in the wrong object (themselves and their flying qualifications).

Conversely, just a little bit of faith in a 737 (worthy object) would have gotten them to their desired destination every time.

Faith must be exercised to be effective.

The root Greek word most often used for faith in the Bible is, “peithō,” and interestingly it is a verb.

According to Strong’s Concordance, it means “persuade, trust, obey, have confidence, believe, to be confident.”

Because it is a verb, faith is not passive but active, and therefore it must be “exercised” to be effective.

What you believed 20 years ago about something may be interesting, but what really counts is what you believe about the same thing today, now, in this moment.

We’ve all heard about people who “came to faith” in Christ as children but no longer believe in Him today. So, which one counts?

Faith has a shelf life and needs to be challenged for it to grow and become stronger. This does not happen when circumstances are rolling along just fine.

Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:6-9:

”In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which perishes though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

Would you get on an airplane that hadn’t been tested to its limits? In his book, The Green Letters, Christian author Miles Stanford writes:

“We ought, instead of no trials before victory, no exercise for patience, to be willing to take them from God’s hand as a means. I say — and say deliberately — trials, obstacles, difficulties, and sometimes defeats, are the very food of faith … Faith is dependence upon God. And this God-dependence only begins when self-dependence ends. And self-dependence only comes to its end when sorrow, suffering, affliction, broken plans and hopes bring us to that place …”

We can only trust someone if we know them.

The business world is littered with sad tales of charlatans fleecing unwary investors. The victims thought they “knew” the person representing the investment, only to discover when it was too late, that they had bet on a “lame horse.”

Religious charlatans lurk in the bushes to pounce on unwitting “believers” all the time.

That is why we are urged in John 17:3:

“… this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

To know God is to love God, and to love God is to trust Him.

How About You?

What kind of shape are your “faith muscles” in? Remember, “use it or lose it.”

As written in Hebrews 11:6: “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for the one who comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He proves to be One who rewards those who seek Him.”

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