DR. STE​VE M​CSWAIN

The Meaning of Faith

Faith: What is faith?

Content? Doctrines of our church?
The stuff you believe? The stuff we believe?
What the Church believes? What our church believes?
Your beliefs? Their beliefs? Our beliefs?

Which is it? Maybe none of the above.

Faith may be less about “content” and more about “conduct”? Not as in, “behavior” but as in “believing.” Not as in “what” you believe but “that” you believe. That you trust. Rely upon. Enough to take a risk.

Some people are “believers” because they want to take OUT the risks. They use their faith the way a lion tamer uses a whip – to command something missing into existence; to bring some measure of “control” to what feels out-of-control. They, therefore, look very religious. In fact, they are quite religious…to the point of being offensively religious.

I’m not so certain, however, they are anything more than simply religious. You can be a believer but not believing. You can use your beliefs so as to delude yourself into thinking you’re a believer. So, you have the “right” beliefs, as defined by your religion. But, to me, the more important question is: Do you believe? Do you so live as to trust…to let go of your beliefs even…instead of clinging to your beliefs and confusing that for believing?

The writer of Hebrews puts it like this:

“The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see” (Hebrews 11:1).

The Meaning of Faith

Trust in God?
Trust when “we can’t see?”
Which is most of the time, isn’t it?

Admit it. Be honest.
You cannot see…

God, can you?
Or, tomorrow? In truth, you cannot even see the very next moment.
Or, life beyond death?
Nope. Can’t see that either. So, pretend all you wish that you “know” what lies beyond the doorway into eternity because, the truth is, you and I no more know what lies beyond the grave than we know what lies on the surface of Mars.

So, what is faith?

It’s trust in God, when you know basically nothing.

And, what is “trust in God?”

Isn’t it the moment by moment practice of letting go of everything…which, includes, of course, your reliance on your religion and the religious cliches’ you and I voice in our hymns? The words sound as if we are “certain” of everything and we sing them with great gusto and certainty. And, of course, we should. This helps us. It’s this practice that enables our growth in faith, which is always beyond our beliefs. But, let’s be real honest, in our more honest moments, we mostly scared to the core. We are mostly out of control. We mostly control very little…

Except, perhaps, our responsibility to make decisions…to practice our faith…to trust, when there’s nothing left to cling to.

Which leads me to say, to trust isn’t the resignation to “whatever will be, will be.” It isn’t abdicating your duty to decide between two alternative paths. You must make a decision and, of course, you want to make the right one…sure you do. Nobody intentionally screws up, makes poor choices. And, if you’re like me, you’re often frightened because, based on the repertoire of poor decisions you’ve made in the past, you have no confidence in your own ability to make a right decision this time.

The Meaning of Faith

But you must.
You can and you must.
So, what do you do?

You look at alternatives.
You talk to a trusted friend.
You pray for wisdom.
You attempt to be as objective as you can be.

Then…
You decide.
You accept responsibility for the decision you’ve made.
You trust God, even as you walk blindly into that decision.
And, you continue practicing this trust that God “will never abandon you.”

Which, of course, she won’t.

I was taught, “Faith is believing in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior.”
Well, maybe it is this, but I know now that faith is infinitely more than this. It is believing the “way of Jesus,” the way of faith…of faithfulness…the way of genuinely knowing God…

So, I practice trusting this is so…and so living as if it were…

When, actually, it would be easier to just give up hope altogether…

The Meaning of Faith

I seek to be…
…Compassionate when it would be easier to hate;
…To be forgiving when it would be easier to nurse a grudge or demand justice for me and mine;
…To be accepting when it would be easier to withdraw and to prefer only those like me…or, like us;
…To be kind when it would be easier to treat another as they really deserve;
…To be loyal when it would be easier to walk away and just quit;
…To be patient when it would be easier to manipulate or control, so as to remove uncertainty;
…To be decisive when it would be easier to recoil in fear and hesitancy;
…To be hopeful when it would be easier to despair.

I seek to live this way…the Jesus’ way, the way he spoke about in John 14:6 when he said, “I am the way…” You follow a similar way and the promise is, “you will come to the Father.”

In the end, it’s not “what you believe” that is important. Sorry. It just isn’t. Don’t tell that to the religious professionals because, just as I did for decades, they thrive on “what” they believe and they pretend that what they believe carries eternal significance. Furthermore, they thrive on the other illusion that what they believe is “right” and that what others believe is wrong or, at a minimum, not quite as “right” as what they believe.

They know none of this. But, by pretending they do, they expect you to pretend right along with them…it keeps them in business, you see.

It’s not what you believe, however, it is that you believe…because…as the writer of Hebrews knew…

“The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living” (Hebrews 11:1).

When you get this, life then becomes worth living.
Until you get this, your believing is about your beliefs…and, what belief could ever be more important than believing?