Faith is a beautiful quality, a virtue held in high esteem by all the biblical characters that we will analyze in this message. Unfortunately, today many people detract from the faith they think is nothing more than simple gullibility, which means believing something.
How can the men and women of faith who appear in the Bible contribute much?
What do many people think about faith, and why are they wrong?
Without relying on evidence or facts. But is it really like that? No, true faith involves much more than being carried away by an emotion or having a vague belief in God. Emotions can be deceiving, since they vary from one day to the next. And it is not enough to just believe in God either, since the Bible indicates that even "demons believe and tremble" (James 2:19).
True faith goes much further. Let's see how the Bible defines this quality (Hebrews 11: 1). Paul indicated that faith encompasses two types of things we can not see. On the one hand, it focuses on the realities that exist even if they are not contemplated. Our physical eyes can not see spiritual realities, such as Jehovah, his Son and the Kingdom that already rules in the heavens. And on the other hand, faith also focuses on the things that wait, the events that have not yet happened. For example, we can not literally see the new world that the Kingdom of God will soon bring. But does that mean that there is no basis to have faith in these realities and events that we expect? Of course not. The apostle clarifies that the true faith is firmly founded.
When he said that faith was "the sure expectation", I use an expression that can also be translated as "property title". Imagine someone decides to give you a house. Maybe he will give you the title to the property and tell him: "Here he has his new home". It is clear that you do not intend that you live on a piece of paper, however, that legal document is proof so sure that now the house is yours, so to speak, that paper is equivalent to the house itself. In the same way, faith gives us the complete assurance that everything that God promises in his word can be taken for granted.
Therefore, true faith implies having a firm conviction, a deep-rooted and absolute trust in Jehovah. When we have such a faith, we see God as a Father who loves us and we are completely sure that he fulfills each of his promises. Now, that's not all. As with living beings, faith needs to be nourished. We must demonstrate with works or, otherwise, it will die. Why is faith so important?
The apostle Paul gives us a compelling reason (Hebrews 11: 6). Without faith we can not get close to Jehovah nor pleasant. So it is indispensable to fulfill the most noble purpose that exists: to approach Jehovah, our heavenly Father, and give him glory.
Jehovah knows how much we need faith, and that is why he has given us examples from real life to teach us how to cultivate and demonstrate it. On the one hand, we have the excellent model of the brothers who lead the congregation, hence the Bible exhorts us: "They imitate their faith" (Hebrews 13: 7).
On the other hand, Paul also spoke of a great "cloud of witnesses", referring to servants of God of antiquity who manifested an extraordinary faith (Hebrews 12: 1). The apostle mentioned some of them in chapter 11 of the Hebrews letter, but obviously there are many more. The pages of the Bible are replete with real stories of men and women of different ages and circumstances in life. In these times when faith is conspicuous by its absence, it will be a great help to analyze its example.