There are those who scoff at the school boy, calling him frivolous and shallow. Yet it was the school boy who said, Faith is believing what you know ain't so. --Mark Twain,
Is there any way to verify faith?
How can you know if you really have faith? I’m not talking about faith that defines your religious philosophy. I’m talking about faith like you have in a big rubber band just before you bungee jump. If you jump, are you exercising faith or stupidity? What is the determining factor that verifies that it was either faith or stupidity? For me to jump would be stupid because I wouldn’t take a chance on the rubber band. But for you to jump might mean that you had a faith that I didn’t possess. It could mean that you had a wonderful experience, while I missed the “Joy of the jump” because I am hunkered down some place sucking on my thumb of fear and unbelief.
One dictionary defines faith as: “belief that is not based on proof”. Do you buy that?
How does that stack up with Hebrews 11:1 which says, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen.” Does that mean you have faith if you are hoping for something you don’t have, or looking for something you can’t see? I don’t think so.
Let’s look at the Hebrews definition again and notice the bold underlined words. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen”.
Substance is something that has weight and occupies space, and evidence is something you see that confirms a claim or charge. So is faith in the hoping and seeking, or is faith the tangible substance and evidence that results from our hoping and seeking?
Maybe here is what I am asking, “If we don’t see tangible results from our hoping and seeking, did we really exercise faith?
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I am way in above my head and I have already told you more than I know. But you think about it. Sometimes it is good to get the old cogs turning until the rust comes out of our ears…
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