The Faith Currency

I love shopping.  But I think I've already established that...

As I was browsing through pictures at a store today, I glanced over to a section of black and white pictures, mostly made up of writing.  Sometimes black pictures match my room since my furniture is all black, so I glanced over the artwork.  One picture read, "HAVE FAITH" in big letters.  Okay, cool.  But underneath, it read, "in yourself and in the future".  What!?  (The quote is apparently by Ted Kennedy although I don't see the quote cited on the picture.  So this article is in no way a response to him but a response to the quote.)  Anyway, I started getting ideas for a blog post... and here it is!

A DISSECTION (I love biology!)

I. "Have faith" - okay, that's not exactly questionable there.  Or is it?  When we tell others to simply "have faith", what exactly are we telling them to have faith in or about?  Are we telling them,  "Have faith that everything will be okay"?  "Have faith that a new car will show up in your driveway"?   "Have faith in God"?  "Have faith in yourself"?  Honestly, I don't think saying, "Have faith" is enough.  We need to have faith in God.  We need to have faith that He keeps his promises.  We need to have faith that all things work together for good for those that love God (Rom 8:28).

II. "In yourself" - whoa.  Stop right there.  Why in the world should we have faith in ourselves?  We are sinful, disobedient people.  Even when God is living in us, we shouldn't have faith in ourselves, we should have faith in Him.  We are worthless and nothing without God.  There is no reason why we should have faith in ourselves alone.

III. "...and in the future".  This is correct!  We can have faith about the future if we are God's children!  We can have faith that Jesus really is preparing a place for us (John 14:12).  We can have faith that God will keep His promises about our future with Him.  We can have faith that God will never leave us.

So I'm not trying to say, "AHHH!  This is such a horrible thing to say!"  I'm just pointing out some facts about a quote like this.  It's easy to pass things by, but I think we should really analyze what we see around us, because so many things are of the world, or God's truths mixed with the world's ideas.

UHHH...SO WHAT IS THIS AGAIN?
According to the dictionary, faith is:
1. "confidence or trust in a person or thing"
2. "belief that is not based on proof"
3. "belief in God or teachings of religion"
4. "belief in anything..."
5. "a system of religious belief"

According to the Bible, faith is:
"[T]he substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1)

AN APPLICATION
Let's think of faith as a currency (were you wondering how the title tied in?).  Don't invest your "faith" in the wrong bank!  Don't put "faith" in yourself, your peers, your relatives, your friends, your hamster, your house, your dollar bills, etc.

Faith is sooo important.  According to the Bible, faith can move mountains!  Faith saves us - "For by grace you are saved through faith..." (Eph 2:8-9).  For years I struggled with assurance of my salvation because I wasn't looking at it from a matter of faith.  God promised that He would save those who called on His name - I'd done this, but I had stopped having faith in His promises.

Faith is awesome!  So let's make sure we put it in the right bank... not in the bank of self, but in God's awesome bank!  And you know what?  His bank has interest!  God rewards us when we step out in faith.

Jesus said, "Have faith in God" (Mark 11:22).  When we have faith in God, we're obeying Him.  And when we obey God, there are rewards (check out the parable in Matthew 25:14-30!).

CONCLUSION
Faith is not a feeling, faith is a currency.  You can invest your faith in many banks, but only God's bank gives out interest.  :)

There's more I could say, so I think I'll post again about faith later! :)

"Klarabelle"