“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report.”
Put another way, we may say, faith is an inner conviction, God, not only exists, but that all of His dealings are trustworthy and good, and He can always be relied upon to do what He says. It would even be true to say, mature faith requires no miraculous manifestations of any kind to prove the existence or ability of the Most High. This does not mean, faith is some kind of blind belief based on unquestioning ignorance.
On the contrary, faith is a vibrant, living, assurance based on the true knowledge of God as revealed in the Bible and the creation; a spiritual confidence, we may add, that manifests itself in a willingness to obey Yahweh’s law without repeatedly seeking miracles to quell personal doubts.
Being primarily an action of the mind, living faith is, by far, the finest compliment a believer can pay the Almighty. According to the Scriptures, this action of the mind, this mental recognition of the Eternal’s existence and infinite goodness, is accepted by Him and counted as righteousness. It is called the Righteousness of Faith.
Nevertheless, it is important to remember, unless faith comes to fruition and manifests itself in obedience, a mere profession of discipleship without supporting actions, is nothing more than self-deluding presumption.
The grandest and best appeal found in the entire Bible to disillusioned and desperate man is simply to HAVE FAITH IN GOD or as the Apostle Paul has said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”
This call to have faith in Jesus is not merely a call to give mental assent to the fact, a person called Jesus Christ existed or even that He is the Son of God; rather, it is the distilled truth of the eternal ages coming through the lips of a spirit filled Apostle to all of us. We are to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ - to trust Him - to have faith - to follow - to worship and finally to obey him because. He was Jehovah’s chief agent and spokesman in the creation of the mighty universe.
Living faith, therefore, involves total commitment to Yeshua (Jesus), who in reality is the King of Israel, the “I AM” of the Old Testament and the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
