Super Sunday Post - Down the Rabbit Hole of "Faith"

When I was a kid, I thought that faith was like a super power, and that with faith I could do anything...if I just believed hard enough. For years I would walk to school attempting to use faith to either make it rain, or make it stop raining. I would sit at my mother's kitchen table, staring at bottles, trying to use my faith to make them fall over, or levitate, it would be nice if the bottle just exploded into little shards of glass/plastic (that did no harm to anyone, especially not to me). I spent probably a year praying every day as I walked to school believing that if I asked God to--and if I believed that He would--that one day I would hear His voice. I wanted to hear God speaking to me, one-on-one, like He talked to Moses. One-on-one like I would talk to Sasha or Checkers. These things never happened. And in my childhood angst, I gave up on the thought of creating balls of fire with my hands, or of saving the lives of children ill-advisedly crossing the street into oncoming traffic, by stopping time with my mind...even though I would have done it ALL in the name of Jesus Christ, and never for personal gain. Glory be!

A few months ago, I had a small debate with a co-worker about faith, the power of faith, "Faith as a Force" (a phrase I had never even heard before), etc. And basically, we were arguing over what faith can and cannot do. And at some point, I feel like we were mixing in logical arguments, making assumptions about the mind of God, etc. So, I decided to go straight to the source: THE BIBLE. It's a good place to start when discussing religious matters. It's also a good place to end...but I digress.

So begins what may/may not (depending on length) be my series on: FAITH

I think we all know what faith is but let's define it:

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

A CLASSIC!! What I love about this scripture is that it is, in fact, a definition of faith. Faith is so key to every aspect of the Christian's life, from initial salvation to everyday living. However, I think somewhere along the way faith has been conceptualized and put into a box that is ridiculously restrictive.

Let's break down Hebrews 11: 1:

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for...

substance /ˈsʌbstəns/ Show Spelled[suhb-stuh ns]-

1. that of which a thing consists;
2. something that has separate or independent existence;
3. the actual matter of a thing

...the evidence of things not seen."

evidence /ˈɛvɪdəns/ Show Spelled [ev-i-duh ns] -

1. that which tends to prove or disprove something;
2. ground for belief
3. proof

Proof?!! AHHHHH!! This is amazing. How often does this conversation take place?


Random Seeker: "But...how do you know God is real?"
Random Christian: "I just know. I have faith."

How many realize the awesomeness of that statement? It's not that God is just some concept you believe in. Your faith, which is something OUTSIDE of you, has become the very grounds for your belief. Faith has become your proof of God's existence. Am I the only one who thinks this is hardcore? Please...tell me!

When do we get to the knowledge that faith is MORE than mere belief? More than a concept...it's a kind of really cool, really super "thing." What kind of thing? We'll talk about it in the next installment of "Faith"while I go further down the rabbit whole of independent bible study. Yea!


It's so hard to pick a song for the week. I wanted to find something about faith...couldn't find anything that matched. I wanted to do Donnie's "Stand" (I sang that ALL day), but couldn't find an mp3 link for it. So I decided to kick it WAAAAAAY old school with this Fred Hammond classic. Enjoy:

Music Playlist at MixPod.com