Engaged Faith (Part 1)

How long has it been since you were engaged? I’m not talking about to your spouse. How long has it been since you were engaged in an intense contest, a big game, an all out battle?

Do you recall Hebrews 11:6: “Without faith it is impossible to please God?” The author of this great chapter on faith and its all-stars lets us know up front that faith is essential in the Christian life, and is much more important than simply believing.

Faith is confidence in God and in His ability. Therefore, faith that is tested intensely becomes trust if the test is passed.

In other words, if faith is confidence in God and His ability, then trust is confidence in God and His ability when it appears as though He is untrustworthy and incapable. Under tough conditions, faith and trust are ripped from the realm of religious terminology and placed alongside courage, determination, and perseverance.

I don’t subscribe to the concept of “blind faith.” Faith is not blind. Faith may find itself in a maze, or being buffeted with ferocity, but I disagree with the picture of helpless, meaningless, doubting, blind faith. Faith doesn’t look at circumstances to acquire a heading.  Faith looks at its object, the Lord Jesus Christ, and moves forward.

That sounds nice, religious, and unrealistic, doesn’t it?

What does faith, forged into trust, focused on its object, look like in real life?

Notice in verse 11:8 of Hebrews that Abraham believed God, packed his U-Haul ox cart, and left home “…not knowing where he was going.” We know the end of the story: He makes it to the promised land. But Abraham didn’t know the end of the story. He left home clueless but committed.

And what do we understand about engaged faith from others who lived by it?