The Oxford English Dictionary describes faith as the complete trust or confidence in someone or something.
Another definition points to it as a strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion. It is based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof. In a way, faith is like love in that it is willing to be blind.
Faith is not something to be taken lightly. It is also not something to be given lightly. To be faithful to something is to believe in something even if there is almost no proof of its existence. Therefore, having faith in someone means believing in something even when others may not.
Faith may vary in strength. For some people, faith can be so strong that it will remain in someone’s life for as long as they live. For others, however, faith can be eroded, weakened, or even changed as time passes. It is not necessarily wrong. After all, we live very different but free lives. As a general rule of existence, no law tells us what we must believe. No law prohibits us from re-igniting our faith should we ever lose it, and a fair amount of us tend to lose faith.
In Kwaku Mensah’s God Cares, But Do We? Book on Find your Faith, human nature plays a significant role in defining an individual’s faith. How they think, feel, and act will affect how strong their beliefs will be. Faith, therefore, is dependent on what affects human nature. Hence the character of a person will also define their beliefs.
Environment is also something that is an essential factor that can affect the beliefs and faith in someone. Should they be born into a non-Christian family or a place that prioritizes other beliefs, then for sure, what they believe in will not center on Christianity. Instead, their faith will be based on the other religions that are more common in that area. It goes to show that environment is also a major factor in the things that a person may or will believe in.
Ministry and education are other things that will affect the faith of others. Oftentimes, it takes being educated on something to know that it exists. In the first place, how do we even believe in something that we do not know is there? Education aims to destroy these blind spots of knowledge. Ministry does the same to explain the existence of God.
It can be pretty hard to believe in something, especially when that something is invisible. “To see is to believe” is a famous quote, and for a good reason; after all, seeing something is the best proof of existence. However, there are things that a naked eye cannot see, and it will take studying them to get how they work. Whenever we reach this understanding, then we undoubtedly believe in the truth of their existence.
Things like electricity, the cells in our body, gravity, and even temperature, are just some examples of these things that are invisible to the naked eye. Yet, we know of these things because we understand how they work. We know that electricity flows in a current and can make things move or give them light. We can see the effect of gravity because we know that what goes up always comes down. We know about the cells of our body through experimentation and the aid of a microscope.
Faith, in a way, works like that. Or it can also be said that faith makes us believe in God even though we cannot see him. Deep inside, we can feel him. He is, after all, our morality. Through him, we find the courage to do good every day.
One of the great things the Christian Bible teaches us is that we are made in his image and likeness. This likeness could be why it is in our human nature to treat others as if they are our brothers. Maybe because of God’s giving and compassionate nature, we, too, can treat our fellow men similarly.
In a way, we know God exists because we exist. In a way, God exists because our faith in him impulses us to do good with each other.
The Damsel’s Files 