Faith in Christ
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see….And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” – Hebrews 11:1, 6 (NIV)
Faith – the art of believing and trusting what you do not see. There are over 4,000 faith groups in the world today. So, it is very true that we all believe in something. Even atheists have a belief when they declare they don’t believe God is there– that’s a belief. But mainly we humans believe in God, a supernatural higher power if you will. Throughout history, we’ve looked up at the stars in the night sky and believed in something beyond them that our imaginations have never quite been able to grasp or perfectly form. Because, in a sense, we call God what we don’t understand, what we can’t perceive with our senses, and what we can’t control.
Nativity by Philippe de Champaigne
So, we are hardwired to be religious. We are hardwired for God. We are hardwired for relationships. We are inherently religious beings created to be in a relationship with God. If we turn from faith and trust in God, then we don’t stop being religious. We simply find something else to substitute for God, an idol (a created thing) to worship and trust instead. “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:25). If you reject God, most often then the idol that you base your life on is found in such things as worldly success, financial security, power, or pleasure. But in all these cases, you aren’t living a religiously-free life. Every worldview is religious at heart, because it takes something on faith. So, faith isn’t the point—the object of our faith is the point.
This Advent Season let us renew our faith … in Christ. For faith is central to celebrating Christ and Christmas. So come all ye faithful, come and behold Him.
