Everyone has a unique understanding of faith, or lack of it, but first we need to be specific about what we have faith in.

We should distinguish Faith in God versus objects or anything else – the Christian faith is personal and is in response to a ‘Faithfull’ God. For Christians, faith is active and is about someone we know we can rely on – Jesus Christ.

The disciples watched Jesus feed 5,000 people with a few loaves and fish; they are impressed, but a little later, in a boat during a storm, it is clear that, when things got rough, they had little faith that Jesus would help them at that time.
How we perceive our faith will define the impact it has on our life; the actions we take and the attitudes we show.

So what is the value of the Christian FAITH?
The Bible (in Hebrews 11 verse 3) describes faith as an understanding of how the heavens and the earth exist through God’s action ‘from things that are not visible’- Beyond tangible things.
In the book of Genesis, Noah is held up as an example of demonstrating faith in God for future events – and taking action that seems extreme to others and is certainly against the culture of his contemporary society; others could see the impact of faith by Noah and his trust in God’s command.

FAITH as a distinctive value allows others to see the POWER of FAITH.
Faith and trust are closely related; to a large extent, in human terms, trust is often ‘earned’, but faith is something that is instigated and actioned in a different way; faith is something that is deeper and exists before events unfold and is irrespective of outcomes.

Our relationship with God is one of a developing faith; albeit often very small at first. It was Tom Wright who expressed this so clearly, when he says:
“It is not great faith in God that we need, it is little faith in a great God.”

The more we experience God’s love, the more we observe that FAITH GROWS in our actions.

James, the brother of Jesus, makes a strong argument for showing faith through action (James 2:14-20) pointing out that faith without action as a result is of little point.

If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?

GROWING FAITH – within ourselves
On the recent BBC programme ‘Scotland's Sacred Islands’ Ben Fogle travels to remote islands such as Iona and finally Unst, asking about spirituality and faith. Ben appears to be searching for the faith that many have found in such places. He can sense it, observe it, but has not found it for himself yet.

The final words of a solitary nun, living on Unst and responding Ben Fogle, wisely observed that he was searching for something that eludes far too many people; and that he should keep going with his search, her final words to him were succinct and perhaps useful for everyone in search of a faith in the living God.

“Seek and you WILL find”

Rev David White