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So much has be spoken and written about faith that it sometimes seems that there is nothing else than ca be said.

However, actually, faith is an endless subject. It is so because faith - at least spiritually speaking - is an endless subject. It is so because faith is closely connected with God, Jesus Christ, and Christianity as a whole. In this way, it cannot be exhausted.

Faith in the world around us is roughly thought of as simply believing that something - anything - is possible, that it can happen, and one exercises "faith" in anything believing something can happen. Therefore, we often hear the word itself applied and used in a multitude of circumstances by almost anyone in any human context.

In many instances it is equated with hope. Although the two are related, hope alone does not constitute faith.

Then there is the well known quotation by the Apostle James that seems to pit works and faith at odds with each other. When properly understood, one sees that they complement each other, the details of which is another subject.

The writer of Hebrews gives a well known definition. Virtually the entire chapter of Hebrews 11 concerns the subject of faith, but notice just the first verse in the Amplified Bible:

"Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]." (Hebrews 11:1)

Notice that genuine faith in God's sight is a matter of assurance, and the evidence of something that is already a reality and conviction it in the ethereal sense. If one has complete assurance concerning something, it already exists, even if not seen through any other human sense. Genuine faith is an unseen reality.

Faith IS the reality until it is seen as a reality.

Therefore, faith concerning something, is reality until it is recognized as a reality. In the meantime, we have genuine belief that is so certain as though we already have the title deed. We "own" the object of our faith just as certain as though we possess ownership in something that we cannot see as yet.

Faith then is not believing that God CAN, but believing that God has already DONE what we hope for. Faith, strictly speaking, is already as good as the possession, through Jesus Christ. The gift that is not seen, already exists as though already seen.

Faith is not simply believing that God CAN or WILL - but that He already HAS. Only in this way can Faith be recognized.

"But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the Rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out]." (Hebrews 11:6)

"Today's Little Lift" from Jim Bullington

Mercy and not Sacrifice (October 5, 2010)