On the Path of Faith

by Ron Hughes

What we know has a significant effect on our life. Yet what we believe has an even greater impact. Religious people aren't the only ones who "live by faith." Everyone does, though they may not recognize it or even want to admit it. Our everyday behaviour reveals what we really believe to be true.

Without working too hard, we can come up with several different kinds of faith that operate in various areas of our lives. First, let's think about "Ritual Faith." We could characterize this faith as rigid, deep, and superstitious. When I was a little boy, my family lived on a farm. We had an elderly neighbour who had stopped farming, but he loved animals. He would often drop in to visit and if there were a new calf in the barn, he'd always want to see it.

I have to interrupt myself to tell you something about our house. The back door led from the kitchen into the woodshed, through the back yard to the barn. We always used this door when we were going to the barn for a couple of reasons. First, it was the most direct route. Second, it allowed us to leave our smelly boots in the woodshed instead of bringing them directly into the house. The front door faced the road and we always used it when we were going anywhere other than to the barn.

Now this old neighbour always came in the front door. In fact, all of our visitors used the front door. What interested me so much was that this particular neighbour would always go out the front door, even if he was on the way to the barn with us. He would always make some excuse to use the front door, while we'd go out the back. When I asked my mother why, she told me that he believed it was bad luck to enter by one door and leave by another. This didn't fit with my experience, but this old man didn't just believe this, he lived by it.

Ritual Faith like this is held so strongly that it is often confused with true faith, but it is quite different. This is faith, not in God, but in our ability to control our life, our environment, our future, by doing certain things in a certain way at certain times. The bad news is that these superstitions take control of our life even as we employ them to try to gain control.

You may be surprised to know that religious people, who have no use for superstition as such, can unconsciously pick up beliefs that are nothing more or less than exactly that. Examples of this kind of Ritual Faith are often associated with church tradition. People believe that certain rites or rituals must be done in a certain way at certain times or something bad will happen to them.

Ritual faith and authentic Christian faith stand in opposition to each other. Ritual faith attempts to control the universe in a mechanical way. The thought is if I do this, then that will happen. If I avoid that then this will happen. True faith is rooted in our relationship with God as our Father, not an impersonal force which can be manipulated.

Another kind of faith we encounter is "Borrowed Faith" which we could characterize as strong, pragmatic, but temporary. This is belief or a set of beliefs we just take from someone else. This is childish faith. We all start out with faith borrowed from our parents. Sometimes they capitalize on this to control our conduct Some kids grow up believing that the bogeyman will get them if they misbehave.

Over the years, I've identified lots of beliefs I acquired by borrowing them from my parents. Some I still hold, but they are no longer borrowed. They are mine now in their own right. But even as adults, we sometimes borrow faith. We find someone who seems to have found how to get the results we're looking for. Then we tune our decisions and actions to match his hoping to get the same outcome he did. Our life is affected, at least for a time, but if it doesn't work, we move on right away. There is no depth to this.

The big problem with Borrowed Faith is that in the crunch it is really useless. Use any synonym you like. Call it impotent, vain, ineffective, the point is that it doesn't work. It is particularly sad when we see those who have carefully borrowed the faith of their parents, Sunday School teachers, pastors, or elders and found it totally inadequate when the trials of life came upon them. When their marriage went sour, they gave up like everyone else. When they were in money trouble, they cut corners like everyone else. When they were slandered and maligned, they retaliated and sought revenge like everyone else. All of their friends are shocked because the borrowed faith looked so good. They had all the right words, but when the good times were over, it became clear that their faith was not their own. It was never internalized. It may allow us to find social acceptability among undiscerning religious people, but it is useless.

As we wrap up our thoughts on Borrowed faith, let me quote from Ray Stedman's commentary on the letter to the Hebrews. He wrote: "Do we confuse conception with birth? A fetus may grow in the womb, fed by its mother's strength, but is that equivalent to birth? Of course not! Birth involves a break with the mother's life and the beginning of an independent existence that is peculiarly the infant's own." From HEBREWS (IVP New Testament Commentary Series) by Ray C. Stedman. (c) 1992 by Ray C. Stedman. There are a lot of people who have never "cut the cord" they are still nurtured by the faith of their parents or someone else. This faith will not save them. They need their own "True Faith."

The next kind of faith we'll consider could be called "Intellectual Faith." It is theoretical, flexible, and superficial. We may believe something we heard on the news to be true, but other than giving us something to talk about, it doesn't touch our life. The next day, if we heard something different and it sounded better, we'd change our faith.

What I'm calling "Intellectual Faith" could be as easily called "knowledge." This is faith that is always under construction as new information comes into view. Science plays a huge role in this. Conceptions of reality have changed several times over the centuries as major discoveries have been made. For example, it was believed for hundreds of years that the sun revolved around the earth and not the other way round as we know to be true today. Or even that the earth is shaped like a sphere, not a disc. These discoveries and many others like them prompted changes in belief not only about the physical realm, but the spiritual as well.

As knowledge increases, changes in faith follow. This is not a big problem most of the time, in fact, it helps. A few years ago, I had a medical problem that was misdiagnosed. The doctors said they knew what the problem was and how to fix it. When my situation did not improve with their treatment, they did some more tests, discovered that they were wrong and proceeded with another line of treatment which was successful. They were sincere and acted on what they believed, learned more, changed what they believed, and acted differently. No one is critical of this kind of thing. In fact, Intellectual Faith is a very fine, useful faith, in the spheres where it belongs. But it has little or nothing to do with the kind of faith we are most concerned about today.

True faith is strong, deep, and, most importantly, living. This is faith which is strongly held and affects our life in profound ways. Within the Christian context it is not just about believing for salvation but about believing for life. We do not behave as we do in an attempt to control the universe, but we act as we do because we have faith in the One who does. We take Him at His word and we seek to promote his agenda in the world instead of our own.

As I was preparing this, I was casting about trying to find a good illustration of True Faith as opposed to other kinds of faith. The best one I could find was suggested by Dr. George Sinclair. (Dr. George R. Sinclair, Jr. Government Street Presbyterian Church, Mobile , AL) He suggests that coming to faith is somewhat like learning a language. That idea immediately rang a bell with me because I went through the agony of learning a second language as an adult.

Most people begin learning another language by mimicking phrases spoken by a native speaker or articulating sounds written phonetically in a book. Once you've memorized the basics, you can function at a low level: You can offer polite greetings as required, order food in a restaurant, read traffic signs, and things like that. This is somewhat equivalent to Borrowed Faith. It's useful. It works. But it's not really yours. That language still lies outside of your domain. As long as you can control the conversation, you can get by. Borrowed Faith is like this. As long as you can control the circumstances, you're fine.

The trouble begins when the control goes. In our language example, your polite greeting may give the impression that you actually speak the language. Suddenly someone pours out a torrent of syllables that are completely incomprehensible to you. At that point, you are painfully aware that this is not your own language. Here's an example: A couple of tourists park their rented car on a narrow street near a quaint little restaurant. Phrasebook in hand, they venture inside. They greet the staff and are shown to a table. Smiling and nodding the whole time, they accept the menu which fortunately has a few English words sprinkled throughout. Valiantly, they order in the local language. Their waiter smiles patiently as they struggle with the strange sounds, and congratulates their effort. Never mind that he understands English and already learned what they wanted, as they discussed the menu between themselves. He brings them some bread, cheese and olives to begin, and disappears into the kitchen.

As they sit their soaking up the local flavour, feeling very good about themselves and their ability to get around in the local language, a man rushes in from the street, speaking excitedly. He calls a staff member over and with large gestures explains something to him. This man, in turn, points to the tourists. Still speaking loudly, the man from the street approaches them, then stops speaking and waits for a response. They do the only reasonable thing under the circumstances. They smile, nod and greet him in his own language. The man looks confused and once again launches into his excited monologue. As our friends listen, the best they can do is look up some phrases in their book. The ones they want include: "We're sorry." "We don't understand." And, "Does anyone here speak English."

Responding to the commotion, their waiter returns, listens to the man, then speaks English to the tourists. "He says a man has damaged your car with his wheelbarrow and wants to know whether he should chase him for you." Now the tourists get excited... You can imagine the ending for this story as you like, the point is clear though. Being able to speak a bit of a language does not allow you to participate fully in conversation.

Faith is like that too. Having a little, borrowed from someone else, doesn't do you much good when things get out of control. That's when you need an unshakeable conviction of your own to sustain you. But you need even more than that. You may have an unshakeable conviction, but if it is in the wrong thing, you're in just as much trouble as if you had no faith at all. This is why I do my best to encourage people to turn to the Bible. On its pages we find the record of God's dealing with mankind. And right from the beginning, God designed faith to play a crucial part in our relationship with Him.

God's invitation for us to trust Him was met with distrust when our first parents found themselves being tested. Even at that time when creation was new, their own hearts and minds untainted by sin, Adam and Eve chose to distrust their Maker. And ever since, this basic distrust of God has dogged humanity. It is our greatest single weakness. God offers many wonderful advantages to those who trust Him, the Bible calls these blessings. What makes faith necessary is that we will not fully enter into many of them until we depart this life.

Hebrews 11, arguably the Bible's greatest chapter on faith, records a list of the greatest believers in the history of the world to that point, then comments "These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised." (Hebrews 11:39) These people all died trusting God to fulfil His promise. They passed into eternity where they would receive the fulness of the promise rather than just a taste of it here, in this life. We don't think too often or too deeply about heaven. We're consumed with the here and now. Maybe that's why so many fail when their faith is tested. They insist on having the fullness of God's promises now. Admittedly, we have only a few glimpses into "the great beyond" recorded in the Bible and even these must be received by faith.

There is just no way to avoid faith. You are living on the basis of your faith today. If you were to scrutinize your decisions and actions and trace them back you would find the object of your faith. Some have put their faith in chance. They believe that our very being here is nothing more than the best example of long odds producing a positive outcome. Consequently, life has no meaning - everything is controlled by the laws of probability.

Others may put their faith in themselves. They believe that they are the source of their own meaning - when they cease to be, reality ceases, at least as far as they are concerned. Consequently, they struggle to get as much from life as they possibly can, believing that when it's over, it's over. We don't have time to list the other ideas that people may be putting their trust in today. What I want to communicate clearly is that the object of our faith matters a great deal. I'm inviting you to exchange the object of your faith from whatever it might be for God - the God of the Bible.

The apostle John was a man who was among the closest associates of Jesus, when He was here on earth. After three years of knowing Jesus personally, (literally following Him, talking to Him, listening to Him) and many more years of having known Him spiritually, John wrote these words: "Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that your have eternal life."

This is the crux of our faith. God gives eternal life. This life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life. That is, the person who by faith receives the Son, obtains the very life of God - the intense, vibrant, spiritual life God intended for mankind to enjoy forever in His presence. If you find yourself today counting on Borrowed Faith, Ritual Faith, Intellectual Faith, or any other kind of faith to see you through this life and beyond, let it go. The faith you need is True Faith in God.

True Faith involves simply receiving the Truth that God has communicated to us through His Word in your heart, mind and will. It is not manipulating God but entering into a relationship with God because the source of the estrangement between you - your sin - has been cleared out of the way by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ in your place.

What you believe is significant. It determines how you live your life. It also will determine your future. God has designed us with the capacity to chose to move toward Him by faith or to move away from Him. Those who come to Him find that He is the source of life, not only physical life, but spiritual life which they will enjoy throughout eternity. Those who move away from Him, will find themselves cut off from the source of life. Their destiny is that of eternal death.

The many distractions around us lead us to think that this life is all there is. It's not. God makes it clear in the Bible that eternity is very real. What we do in this life, in terms of moving toward God or away from Him, will have real and lasting consequences in that eternity. God states very clearly and simply that He offers eternal life to those who believe that the death of the Lord Jesus Christ paid the price of their offenses against Him. Turn to God and receive the blessing of life He offers through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.