Hebrews 11:1, 2 – “What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot see. God gave his approval to people in days of old because of their faith.” So what does this mean? What does faith ‘look’ like? You cannnot measure or study ‘faith’ in any tangible kind of way. Yet, it exists, and God is pleased with those who live by faith.
I love the analogy in the movie ‘Contact’ with Jodie Foster. Her character is having a conversation with her friend who had studied to become a priest. She was challenging him on the fact that he believes in a God he cannot prove exists. He asked her this question: ‘Did you love your father?’ Her reply was, ‘Yes, very much.’ And he said, ‘Prove it.’ That’s the thing about faith. I can’t ‘prove’ it, yet I know what I believe is true. People may challenge my experience and try to rationalize things away, but deep down, I KNOW. It goes way beyond feeling, emotion, reason. It’s like something imprinted on my very soul and spirit, something planted there not by my own imagination, but by God himself.
Yet there are many who cannot accept this. And I am reminded of the words of Jesus: “But when I, the Son of Man, return, how many will I find who have faith?” (Luke 18:8)