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“FAITH” If we want to be “pleasing to God” we must have “faith”: (Heb 11:6) "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." This verse leaves no doubt in the minds of those who are honest with themselves; if you want to be pleasing to God you MUST have faith. You may wish to ask “How can one obtain faith?” Again I look to the Word of God for an answer: (Rom 10:17) "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." There are many methods of hearing the word of God today; there are the Bible classes, sermons which are preached every Sunday by faithful gospel preachers; in the Warsaw area if you have satellite TV on Sunday morning you can hear no less that three sound lessons from the Bible. Then of course there are CDs and DVDs which are put to use by many. Of course there is always the tried and true way of simply reading our Bibles; if you don’t have a Bible there are those who would be more than willing to give you your very own Bible. With all these available means of obtaining faith we can fully understand why God will not accept any excuse of not having faith and will not find anyone without faith as being pleasing. But what exactly is faith? Turning to Hebrews chapter eleven and verse one we read: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Here we have a definition or description of faith in two parts. First we are informed that faith “is the substance of things hoped for”. This is a very true statement because you cannot separate faith and hope. The two go together like milk and cookies. If you have one you have got to have the other. What is it that we should be hoping for? I, am hoping for heaven and I am not alone there are countless numbers who have the same hope as I have. The second part of the definition or description of faith is “the evidence of things not seen”. I have never seen heaven; nonetheless I am surely convinced that heaven exists. I have never seen George Washington, but I still believe that at one time he did live and that he was a real man. I believe what our history books have to say about him. If I can have faith in what has been written about George Washington why can’t I also believe what has been written in the Bible about heaven. I hope this will help you to have a clearer understanding of what faith is. What are some other benefits of having faith? If you truly have faith it gives you ability to explain the unexplainable! Can you explain how the world came to be, or how it was created? Through faith we are given the answers: (Heb 11:3) "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." A simple thing such as light can be explained through faith in God’s word: (Gen 1:3) "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light." Without faith in this verse I could never explain how light came into existence. Although I can not fully understand the power of God I do have an understanding faith of how light came to be. Another benefit of faith is that you will be well thought of and you will obtain a good report: (Heb 11:2) "For by it the elders obtained a good report." When you keep this in context with verse one you find that it was the faith of the elders which caused them to receive a good report. The same is also true of those who are deacons; as a matter of fact you will find this to be true of any Christian. Therefore, if you want people to think well of you let your faith be seen. As Christians there are many things that we must believe, but there is one commandment that cannot be overlooked: (1 John 3:23) "And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment." We must believe on the name of Jesus Christ. Not only must we believe that He lived and walked upon the same earth that you and I walk upon; we must also believe that He is the Son of God. Do you believe that Jesus is God’s Son? Do you believe that He was crucified for your Sins? Do you believe that God raised Him from the grave? Do you believe that Jesus is now seated at God’s right hand? If you don’t believe this your faith is not pleasing unto God! Perhaps all you lack is to read your Bible a little more.
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