What is Faith? 

Is faith a blind leap into the dark? Is it some mystical feeling given to us by God? Is it assenting to a set of propositions? Is faith even definable? And even more, what part does faith play in our salvation? 

What Faith is Not 

Faith is not a blind leap; this is existential faith. The Existentialist were a group of Philosophers who gained popularity in the early 20th century. They followed the writings of Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) who taught that logic had failed as an answer to life's most fundamental question: what is the meaning of life? He proposed an escape from reason by a blind leap into the unknown. This so called 'faith' is an illogical choice in order to create an experience that would define the reason for the existence of the individual. This is what most people today tend to think of as faith. (For a further discussion of existentialism see Francis Schaffer's book Escape From Reason and James W. Sire's book The Universe Next Door).

To a believer, the cross of Christ is a symbol of the great love, commitment, and sacrifice it took to bear our sins. In times of weakness the cross can be used as a comfort, and in times of strength it can be used as a firm foundation on which to stand. It is easy then to see why Christians often boast in the cross. However, in many instances we, as believers don't boast in the cross as we boast in our own accomplishments, find comfort in worldly things, and use our own knowledge as a foundation. But, when we examine the value of the cross in comparison to these comforts or foundations, we can truly see the supreme value that is found in the cross. Such a value makes our possessions or education seem quite insignificant. The apostle Paul saw this supreme value in the cross and lived his life to boast exclusively in it. In his letter to the Galatians we read, “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Gal. 6:14) 
 

What is your life like right now? What would you like your life to be like in say, 15 years? What are you living for? Are you seeking a career? Occupied with finishing school? Do you want a family? Perhaps you just want to enjoy yourself and take whatever comes your way? While you ponder that, let’s take a look at one hypothetical young lady and see how you relate to her!

This young lady reads her Bible at least once a day, takes notes on every meeting, counsels at camp, maybe teaches a Sunday school class or kids club. She dresses modestly, hangs out with a good crowd, doesn’t pursue a career, wants to get married and have a family. Her cooking skills could rival any Iron Chef and her housekeeping talent could put Martha Stewart to shame. And what about 15 years from now? Well, she will have found a godly husband, she will have a family, keep a nice home, teach her daughters to dress modestly and be good mothers, help her sons to become strong moral and spiritual leaders, and have found a good assembly to be involved in. She lives in a nice home, attends missionary prayer meetings, hosts a ladies’ tea every month, and even shares the gospel with some of her neighbors.

Would you want to be her? She is, after all, a good Titus 2 / Proverbs 31 woman, isn’t she?

Welcome back for part two as we continue looking at how to study the Bible. Here we will address one of the most time-consuming but perhaps the most important step in Bible study: observation. Observation is seeing what is in the holy text, and not seeing what we think is in the text. "Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law" (Ps. 119:18) As we seek to observe thing from God’s word, we need to read:

• Thoughtfully: looking for key words, figures of speech, quotations, surprises, ect.
• Repeatedly: so we begin to see the flow of ideas, development of themes and arguments
• Prayerfully: asking: "Is there a promise to claim, a command to obey, a truth to believe?"