Faith: Defined

How would you define faith? How do you usually use it in your conversations?

"Things will be okay. Just have faith."

This seems to be the most common usage I've been hearing of late. It strikes me now as amazingly synonymous with "optimism." However, that's not what it means. To have faith or to be faithful does not mean "to think positively." Instead, I believe the word has more to do with connection than with perspective.

Faith is trust. It's a reliance on God. Assuming you know God and are on "talking terms" with Him, your faith is the connection you have with Him that allows you to grasp the intangible and imagine the invisible. In the Christian's life, you cannot have faith disconnected from fellowship. Trust is not hypothetical; it requires sacrificial choice and decisive action. Faith, also, requires movement--a consistent climb to closer-ness with God.

So when things look bleak, don't speak in cliches and thereby lose the power of this reality. To "have faith" is so amazing because it means you feel the presence of the Sovereign Lord. It's a confidence in Someone you know.