What is faith?
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. Galatians 2.20
As we heard Sunday, the crucified life is lived by faith in Jesus Christ. This Monday I was sitting and reflecting on the message with pastor Jee-Young over some coffee and our conversation went to the question of, what is faith? I liked to share some thoughts from our conversation.
Both Matthew 17.14-21 and Mark 9.14-29 speak of a boy who was demon possessed. The disciples were unable to call the demon out of the boy. They had been commissioned by Jesus to do these types of miracles (Matthew 10.7-8). The disciples had been graciously given this gift, but it was not based on their power or ability. Only Christ can bring such healing about. It is only by His power. So, the disciples must continue to be dependent and have their confidence in Jesus. That is the point of this account mentioned both in Matthew and Mark. The disciples though, did not even have a mustard seed of faith on this occasion. So, what is faith?
First, the dad of the boy in these accounts helps us understand faith. The dad says to Jesus, if You can do anything to help us. Then Jesus replies and says, If You can? All things are possible to him who believes (Mark 9.23). Jesus had allowed this man to experience the agony of his son’s demon possession to bring him to this point. The dad obviously does not know the Lord and believe that He can heal his Son. In this moment though things seem to change with the dad saying to Christ, I do believe; help my unbelief (Mark 9.24). Jesus must be the object of our faith. This begins to change for this father.
Next, we also must understand that faith is not about the outcome. Too many prosperity preachers today are spewing from pulpits that you must just believe something will happen and it will happen. People are encouraged to believe God for blessings, but with the emphasis on good health and wealth. What if you lose your job or you get cancer? Do you not have faith? Do you see how this can be confusing and ultimately let people down? Many give up on faith because they don’t necessarily experience these blessings and therefore do not believe they can measure up. This is the same as works theology. We cannot let this sink into our thinking.
Blessings are anything that causes increase of our faith and praise of God. That might mean cancer and the lost of a job. Such blessings cause us to depend on God’s grace. This is what faith is all about, depending on the grace of God. Faith is not something we came up with on our own. It is a gift of God (Ephesians 2.8-9). It continues to be about the grace of God as we continue on in our journey with Christ.
We must be careful that faith is not thought of being something that you simply wish and it happens. Faith, according to Jesus, is believing that He makes everything possible. This means we trust in God’s goodness through all things and believe God for the best outcome. That outcome might not be what you or I want, but it is God’s best. We must trust God that whatever He does is for our good, so that we would trust Him and grow in that belief. We must remember and believe that God desires to give us good gifts (Matthew 7.7-11). The good gifts that God desires to give us may not be what we would define as good, but they are. Faith is not about things turning out the way we want them to. God’s grace looks different than what we think at times.
So, trust Christ. He can do all things. Believe in Him to do the impossible.
