In many ways the Bible is all about faith – belief in God, the faith of people following him, and learning to trust what we don’t see. Bob knows all about that. He uses his nose for most things, and, in this case, it serves him really well. He doesn’t need to see in order to track down the great faith stories and teachings of the Bible.
Hebrews 11:1-2 in The New International Version of the Bible
Faith in the Bible is more than belief; its acting on that belief. Faith is a gift from God, and is not self-generated. Because God has shown himself faithful through his steadfast love, he gifts his people with faith to know him and exhibit his love through good works. The height of faith is to place one’s life completely in God’s hands, believing in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Faith the size of mustard seed is enough.
Faith involves information and action. We need both.
Here is a picture of faith from my life: On my honeymoon we traveled to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We needed to cross the Mackinac Bridge to get there. It’s an imposing bridge. You can read all about it in the little park beside it. It’s the longest suspension bridge in the Western hemisphere at 26,372 feet. At it’s mid-point, the bridge’s roadway towers 200 feet above the Mackinac Strait. You can even find out that on September 22, 1989, Leslie Ann Pluhar died when her Yugo car plunged over the 3-foot-high railing due to an excessively high gust of wind…. and I’m going to cross this bridge in my ’78 Nova.
Although that’s a lot of bridge information I did need to know the location of the bridge. How safe was it? Would it hold me, my new wife, and my ’78 Nova up? I needed to know if the bridge was open to road traffic or not (because of the wind). I needed to know how to cross the bridge with a truck beside me (because there is a certain protocol to follow if the wind is gusting at certain speeds).
I couldn’t just cross the bridge without that kind of information. But at some point, information is not enough….
You need to take the action of crossing the bridge.
Information and action. In order to cross the Strait from the Lower Peninsula to the Upper I needed to trust the weather information. To attempt a crossing with “I think I can… I think I can… I think I can…” could end in disaster. I couldn’t just cross the Strait at any point along the land with blind faith.
Then, I needed the courage to act on the knowledge I received. Both the person who is afraid of crossing the bridge, as well as the person who thinks nothing of just stepping out make it to the other side. It isn’t the amount of faith that is important; it’s in what (or who) that faith is placed.
Faith in the Bible is having some truthful, important, and useful information about Jesus Christ, then acting on the knowledge with trust and confidence that you’ll make it to the other side.
Romans 6:23 (New International Version)
Here are some verses on faith that Bob tracked down for you:
Matthew 9:2 (English Standard Version)
“And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.’”
The people believed Jesus could heal the paralyzed man based on the information they had about him. So, they took appropriate action and brought the man to Jesus. The result was a complete healing of body and soul. Take note here of something interesting: it was the people’s faith in Jesus, not the man’s.
Matthew 17:20 (Contemporary English Version)
“I [Jesus] assure you that if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Go from here to there,’ and it will go. There will be nothing that you can’t do.”
The size of the faith is not the issue – it is in whom that faith is placed. The littlest of faith in Jesus can have massive results, whereas the biggest of faith in someone who cannot get you to the other side gets no results. Small information put into action through placing complete trust in Jesus makes all the difference.
Acts 3:16 (New King James Version)
“And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.”
The Apostle Peter made it clear that it was not he himself that healed the man, but faith in the name of Jesus. Peter had loads of knowledge about Jesus from being with him for three years. He used that information to act mercifully toward a needy person, despite what the consequences would be from local authorities.
Romans 3:22, 28 (God’s Word Translation)
“Everyone who believes has God’s approval through faith in Jesus Christ…. We conclude that a person has God’s approval by faith, not by his own efforts.”
We cannot get to the other side of the bridge by flapping our arms – no matter how much effort we put into it. We need Jesus. He is the bridge.
Romans 10:9-12 (The Message)
“It’s the word of faith that welcomes God to go to work and set things right for us. This is the core of our preaching. Say the welcoming word to God—“Jesus is my Master”—embracing, body and soul, God’s work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That’s it. You’re not “doing” anything; you’re simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That’s salvation. With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: “God has set everything right between him and me!”
We act upon the knowledge of Jesus with complete trust in his work, not ours.
1 Corinthians 15:17 (New American Standard Bible)
“If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.”
The ground of faith is Christ’s resurrection. Knowing this and trusting in his power to bring about our own future resurrection is vital. There is no bridge if there is no resurrection.
2 Corinthians 5:7 (New International Version)
“We live by faith, not by sight.”
Knowledge, or belief by itself isn’t faith. Faith requires stepping out even when there’s a fog in which we can’t see the other side.
Galatians 2:20 (New Revised Standard Version)
“The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Faith is not a one time event but a continual trusting in the person and work of Jesus, constantly putting our knowledge into faithful acts of mercy. Faith is continual journey.
Galatians 5:6 (New American Bible)
“For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.”
Outward rituals have their place, but they don’t deliver anyone from sin, death, or hell. Only the informed belief in Jesus operating with loving actions counts.
Ephesians 2:8-10 (Common English Bible)
“You are saved by God’s grace because of your faith. This salvation is God’s gift. It’s not something you possessed. It’s not something you did that you can be proud of. Instead, we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives.”
Informed faith, trusting solely in the grace of God, acts with good works.
1 Timothy 6:10 (King James Version)
“Fight the good fight of faith.”
Faith fights. It seeks to be informed and act on that knowledge by placing trust in Jesus. Faith holds on and hangs in there, contending for any assault upon it.
Philemon 5-6 (New Living Translation)
“I keep hearing about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all of God’s people. And I am praying that you will put into action the generosity that comes from your faith as you understand and experience all the good things we have in Christ.”
Understanding and action come together as we drive across the bridge and enjoy the ride.
Hebrews 11:6 (New Revised Standard Version)
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”
Absolute certainty isn’t in the realm of Christian spirituality – there’s always more information one could obtain. But faith discerns, intuits, and knows God is there, and orders it’s steps accordingly with faithful activity.
James 2:14, 26 (New Century Version)
“My brothers and sisters, if people say they have faith, but do nothing, their faith is worth nothing. Can faith like that save them?… Just as a person’s body that does not have a spirit is dead, so faith that does nothing is dead!”
Take a whiff – that’s a nose full! Now you know how Bob feels and acts.
This page, along with the entire site, is continually under Bob’s nose. We’ll keeping giving you great content about faith in the Bible. Come on back and check in from time to time.
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Thanks. See you on the trail.
