I want to please God!

“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” (Hebrews 11:6).

Hebrews 11:6 is an important scripture for all Christians. After all, the Christian walk is about pleasing God. Therefore, when we read that “without faith it is impossible to please God”, we ought to be immediately assessing our life as to whether or not we have faith. Personally I find that my level of faith tends to vary. I can go through times where I have great faith, but I can also go through times where my faith is diminished - i'm just being honest.

Faith does not have a physical form – we can’t see it, we can’t feel it, we can’t touch it. In that regard, we find faith is often something we struggle to define. What exactly is faith? How do I know I’ve got faith? What does a person of faith look like?

I’ve been in the church long enough to know the standard answer to the faith question. In answering the question “what is faith”, I have previously just recited the scripture in Hebrews 11:1. But, it wasn’t until recently when I was studying faith that I realised what that scripture really meant. I found the writing of Pastor Mark Johnson very good on this and as usual he got my mind ticking.

The companion to faith is desire, although faith is much more than desire. No one has faith for something that they don’t desire. Maybe that is why Hebrews 11:6 says that “God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” – that speaks of desire to me. To desire something is to reach for something that you don’t have. In essence, desire is here, the object of desire is over there. However, just desiring something is not faith!

Faith begins with desire, but must then be accompanied by a level of expectation. Expectation goes beyond desire. In fact, desire with a level of expectation is actually “hope”. Desire wants something, expectation looks for something, but hope wants and looks for something. Hope is part of faith, but it is not faith!

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for” – true faith is not just hoping for something, but it is living as if you have it (the substance) in your hands.

“The evidence of things not seen” – faith is living as if you’ve got the evidence in your hands.

Hope is anticipation; faith is participation. Faith requires participation – living as if you’ve got the thing your hoping for (the substance, the evidence) in your hand now.

I think that is why Peter and John asked the man at the gate Beautiful to “take up his bed and walk”. He could have said “I believe I’m healed” and then just continued to sit there – but that would have just been “hope”. When he participated in the healing by taking up his bed, standing to his feet and walking – that was true faith. Faith is participation. It is living like you’ve got the healing.

Faith envisions, faith encompasses, and faith enjoys (even before it becomes a reality).

That's my five minutes! (inspired by Mark Johnson)