The Requirements of Faith

Hello, all! I'm extremely excited to be writing my first blog post for Odyssey. I can say that I am intrigued by the opportunity to get my voice heard and write about some pressing issues of our society. With that being said, I want my first post to be on a topic that lately has been lingering in my mind and heart: the requirements of faith. Faith is the foundation of a Christian's relationship with God, but in contemporary Christianity, we have collectively formed misconceptions of faith due to being misinformed. In this post, I plan to shed light on three main things that help ground, shape, and define the requirements of faith in God.

1. Faith And Sacrifice Are Synonymous

One of the most common misconceptions in contemporary Christianity is that faith is grounded in what we can factually prove. There is an overall established belief that faith is rooted in what can be proven to be true based upon tangible evidence. Both of these prospects can be refuted with one of the most well-known passages of scripture: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1).

This definition of faith is comparable to the usage of our eyesight. Physical eyesight produces a conviction of visible things, while faith is the organ that convicts us of things that are invisible. This concept is difficult to accept because we live in a generation that cleaves to the cliché principle, "seeing is believing". Faith requires that we do the inverse of this, and that requires a sacrifice. So the question becomes, what exactly are we to sacrifice? We sacrifice our dependency on human intuition. Human intuition tells us that in order for us to believe something to be true, then we must be able to see and touch it.

Human intuition tells us that in order for something to be real, there must be evidence proving it to be so. While this is a good tool to use when concerning our physical environment, it is not sufficient when concerning the things of God. Faith requires us to sacrifice that and trust in God, the only one who is able to see the things that are invisible to our finite eyes. The only one who knows our future before we do. That trust in God is what helps to counteract our need to see before we can believe. Remember that faith is the substance of things hoped for. So if the substance is before you and you can see it, then there really is no need for faith. Faith is needed for what you cannot see and touch. and it is that object of faith that makes faith faithful.

2. Faith Always Says "Since God"

One of the main ways to have a stable faith in God is knowing that faith never says, "If God", but always says, "Since God". "Since God" faith helps us to be grounded in two main things: 1. The promises of God. 2. What God has already done in your life? SINCE God said that He will use for good in our life what was meant for evil (Genesis 50:20), we can find strength in that promise to carry on. Additionally, when you have seen the hand of God moves in your life, i.e., providing for you or healing a loved one, our faith should be firm because SINCE God did it before, we know that He is able to do it again. This is simply having faith in God being able to do what He already said that He would.

3. Faith in the Reality of God

One of the biggest things that can distort our faith is if it is misplaced. In today's society, we often have placed our faith in the reward for righteousness. This simply means that our faith is rooted in an expectation of reciprocity. We choose to pray, because if we pray, then God provides. We choose to praise, because if we praise, then God protects. We choose to do right unto others, because if we do that, then they should do right unto us.

These things are not really faith, but rather, they are cause and effect. Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley, the pastor of the Alfred Street Baptist Church, suggests that our faith in God should not be rooted in the causality of our stewardship, but in the reality of God. In other words, our faith should not be in "when the praises go up, then the blessings come down", but rather, it should be in "when I pray, I know there's a God who hears me". This concept is a major requirement of our faith. Faith in God's reality alleviates the 'cause and effect' worship we give and allows us to serve God in authenticity. Authentic worship of God is not motivated by an expectation of a blessing, but by a heart that wants to please Him. So the correlation is that if God expects authentic worship, then I would suggest that part of that is having authentic faith. (Hebrews 11:6).

Faith is the most essential element of our walk with God. It stabilizes, protects, and motivates us to move forward in life. The power of our faith comes from the very God we serve, but it cannot be properly utilized unless we know how to do so. It becomes important then to remember that faith always requires a sacrifice of our dependency on human intuition when concerning the things of God. It requires that we always say, "Since God", instead of "If God". And finally, authentic faith demands to be placed in the reality of God instead of the reward of righteousness. Be encouraged. Stay encouraged. Have faith.

Until next time,

Alvin E. Long Jr.