Faith without religion.
(An excerpt from Shawn’s upcoming book, Songs of the Spirit)
While not first on the list of traits of the Fruit of the Spirit, there is perhaps no characteristic more fundamental, even primary, in all of the biblical principles evidenced from Genesis to Revelation. It is the starting point and without it, there is little capacity to embrace or rightly follow the fruit of the Spirit.
Many wonder about the idea called faith: Where does it originate? How is it obtained? And even, How is it even be defined? We could write volumes on the subject and never really come to a complete understanding of it and for this reason I am going to summarize the matter with some highlighted considerations.
Scripture describes faith as, “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” We note that the word, “things” is used twice in this single passage, located in Hebrews 11. We also note the terms substance and evidence in describing faith but these words are directly tied to “things hoped for” and “things not seen.”
Suppose that you nor any other person on earth has ever personally seen a honey bee. We have searched the earth over to find such a creature that strips nectar from flowers and mashes it up into a product called honey, but as far as the creatures themselves, we, through science and entomology have predicted that such a creature exists.
Perhaps you will be driven to try and actually witness a bee in the wild and you journey out into the forest to try. After weeks of endless searching you come upon a hive (which are known) but no bees are seen. However, there is honey – something that is an evidence of the existence of bees. And while disappointed in never seeing a bee, you do come to a conclusion as you walk out of that forest for home, and you declare:
“Honey is the substance of bee’s hoped for, the evidence of bees not seen.”
The transference to understanding faith might now be easier when we recite the Hebrew definition, “Faith is the substance (like honey is the substance) of THINGS hoped for, the evidence (like honey is the evidence) of bees not seen.”
But the question remains, what are the “things” (twice mentioned) in the passage? Well, we might get an answer to this by asking ourselves, relative to scripture, what do are we given that we “hope for,” and what are evidenced to us, but are “not seen?” Putting these together, we might say, “what do we hope for that is not seen?” And while we could say, God or Yeshua or angels or whatever, perhaps the most concise answer, taken contextually is to see the word things as representing, “the promises of God.” See, all the way back to the Creation and our first parents, God told Adam and Eve to not eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil because in the day that they do they would surely die.” We might see this as one of the first promises God gave to the human race. Of course, our first parents did not trust in that declaration and followed their own will, rejecting faith, and the fallout ensued. But a contextual analysis of scripture proves over and over and over again that God sought and continues to seek for souls who trust His declarations, His promises and this, even though the promises can only be hoped for and present evidences not seen, when they are received, believed and even better followed and applied, that this pleases Him. In fact, the same chapter in Hebrews plainly states that without faith, “it is impossible to please Him.”
When we give the import of faith embraced to God, we might be able to see that in creating freewill agents in His own image and giving them choice to believe on His promises or not, those who choose to trust in Him and His Word (pun intended) He is overjoyed with such a decision. If this is the case, we can begin to understand why faith is so beloved of our Creator when it is found in freewill souls, why it is so intrinsic to there being freewill, and why He is so pleased by those who choose to receive them even though it is only on hope (expectation) and items we choose to see as unseen (or spiritual) evidences.
His promises are made, given – all throughout the Lyrics of His written narrative. The Holy Spirit moves, inclines and invites all souls to receive and believe on them and this is a fruit of the Spirit. We can therefore conclude that other spirits and forces that push against trusting in His promises ought not to be trusted or received. Faith, then, is a fantastic indicator of His Spirit’s music present in our lives.
But remember, faith is substance and evidence, and not something that ought to be created and accepted in a vacuum. According to the Lyrics, the living God has given the world innumerable evidences of His Invisible Self – with seven specifically described (the kosmos, heavens, nature, the scripture, the witness of His Son, the witness of others changed and saved, and our own personal witness) – and the scripture concludes, all are without excuse for not receiving and believing. Faith is the acquiescence of our will and ways, our carnal minds that include intellectual pride and arrogance, and the literal mental, emotional, spiritual reception of His promises and even commands. Upon such receive faith, He rebuilds each of us according to how He wants us to be.
Finally, without faith (in the promises of God) it is impossible (in most circumstances) for human beings to love with agape (unconditional love) as Yeshua commanded. Because faith comes by hearing the scripture (meaning, it comes by learning and hearing the promises of God) every person is put in a position to act or not. These actions are called Love, which is one of the best indicators of the fruit of the Spirit. How about a simple example?
Yeshua taught to forgive all men all trespasses and in so doing our sins and trespasses would also be forgiven. To receive, believe and follow this command/promise is to exercise faith and to evidence love. To reject is proves a lack of faith and therefore a lack of the love He wants His children to possess. In this we see how faith (in His promises) is a precursor to exercising His unconditional love. The more a person understands His promises, and the more they embrace placing their trust in them, the more capacity they have to love as He loved. In all these things and more, faith becomes the key ingredient to our dancing to the Songs of the Spirit.
