I Was Wrong About Faith

I'm stunned. I feel as if everything I thought I knew has crumbled around me. People do say that faith can move mountains. In this case, faith appears to have demolished them. 

All my life I've been taught a variety of scriptures, sayings, and songs that talk about and try to define faith. Things like, 'faith is knowing the sun will rise', 'faith is a hope in that which is not seen which is true', 'faith without works is dead', 'faith is the substance of things hoped for,' and 'faith is like a little seed, if planted it will grow.' 

As I've gotten older I've been encouraged to increase my faith for with faith comes miracles. After all, Jesus Christ will go to "every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, working mighty miracles, signs, and wonders, among the children of men according to their faith." Or consider, "for it is by faith that miracles are wrought" paired with "and neither hath any wrought miracles until after their faith." Finally, Hebrews 11 is a lengthy list of the numerous recorded miracles that have occurred as a result of someone's faith.

Then there are the repeated reminders that faith, hope, and charity are the primary attributes required of disciples of Christ. Paul teaches that charity is the most important, but whenever someone talks about charity they usually end up discussing faith and hope as well. 

As a result, one of the primary focuses of my personal life has been to increase faith. The goal? To have enough faith to work miracles, and not the little miracles, the major ones--protection from poisons, recovery from illness, restoring sight to the blind, and casting out devils. That might seem like a rather lofty goal, but I've always been taught to aim high and I, stubborn, independent woman that I am, see no reason why I can't claim all the same blessings and consequences of my faith as the old apostles. 

I have never wondered if this is an impossible goal. I have always been quite convinced that there is a way to develop the necessary faith for miracle work. The only question I have had is, "How?" After all, faith is a rather esoteric concept. How is it developed? What does greater faith look like? How much is enough faith for a miracle? And really, how does one display increased faith to God? Beyond saying, "God, I believe you can do this" and then a while later saying, "Now I really believe you can do this" how does one acknowledge that their faith has increased? 

If you had asked me before today what faith meant to me I would have probably said something about it being a belief and confidence in the goodness and presence of God and His ability to fulfill promises, give answers, and grant blessings. I would also have said that it is a trait that has to be developed mostly on one's own. 

Well, then I was reading and all on the same day, from a few different sources, I ran into statements about faith that completely changed my concept of faith. 

First was the statement that "faith is a gift bestowed as a reward for personal righteousness." 

Faith is a gift? Not something I can or should acquire on my own? How does that even work? 

I didn't have an answer so I kept reading but the idea that faith might not be something I can just decide to have more of niggled the back of my mind so when I read that "blessings are conditioned upon faithfulness" I paused. Faithfulness. Not faith...

You might not be aware of this, but I love defining things and I'm a little bit of a word snob. If someone uses a word that doesn't exactly match the meaning of what they're saying I'll correct them which is why I know that in common language today the words faith and faithful are used very differently. The way we use them they don't mean the same thing even though they're obviously derived from the same root. Faith is used to describe a belief in God and things not seen. Being faithful, on the other hand, means being invested in something, doing things diligently, consistently, and religiously, not missing days or making excuses. 

Finally, in the book God Calling I read this encouragement: "When you have no clear guidance, then go forward quietly along the path of duty I have set before you. No fear, no panic, quietly doing your daily duty."

Your daily duty. Consistently, diligently, faithfully doing what you've been taught day in, day out. 

What if faith isn't esoteric at all? What if it is quite concretely doing your daily duty?

I decided I needed some extra corroboration before I completely overturned everything I thought I knew about faith, so I went to the dictionary. Imagine my shock when I discovered that the primary definition of faith is allegiance to duty or a person; loyalty. It is also being true to one's word, promises, vows, etc. Someone who is faithful is firm in adherence to promises and observes their duty. Finally they are steadfast in affection or allegiance. Once again, they are loyal. 

At this point I was fairly convinced that I've been wrong about faith my entire life, but I decided I needed to perform one more test. So I took my new definition of faith and tried applying it to all of the scriptures and lyrics I've memorized about faith. It didn't work so well in the song lyrics "faith is knowing the sun will rise" and "faith is like a little seed." It was also a little funny to try applying the definition to "faith is a hope..." Wait a second, faith is hope? That's how we got into this confusion in the first place!

Things made more sense in the context of Hebrew 11's definition of faith. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Those two words--substance and evidence--lend credence to the idea that faith is concrete and solid, not esoteric. In fact, it appears that hope is really the esoteric principle that gets corroborated by faith. I also find the word choice in Hebrews super fascinating. After all, how do you find evidence of things you can't see? Well, the alternate translation of the word evidence is proof. Once again, an incredible example of word selection. 

I don't claim to be great at mathematics but I do remember a terrible unit on mathematic proofs in junior high. When performing a mathematic proof the mathematician is presented with a statement of fact. For example, the length of X side of Y triangle equals the length of Z side of A triangle. The mathematician's job is then to prove that this statement is true which they do by following the rules of geometry, triangles, and angles, listing out every true statement until they reach the eventual conclusion that, yes, X side is equal to Z side. Throughout the entire proofing process, the mathematician is providing concrete statements (substance) to give evidence for something they can't initially see is true, but hope is. 

Therefore, if faith is the substance and evidence of things not seen, then faith is the consistent doing, the daily statements that, over time, build up enough evidence to establish that something we hoped was true, is true. 

I also learned, thanks to the dictionary, that the word proof is not only a noun, but an adjective meaning able to withstand and successful in not being overcome. Which means that increased faith is increased loyalty and greater allegiance to a person, principle, or promise to the point that nothing turns you away from that person or promise, not even sore trial or temptation. 

This puts and entirely new perspective on the fact that "faith without works is dead." It's not that faith requires works, faith is works. Not in the sense that we can work our way to heaven, but in the recognition that the only way to prove our belief, realize our hope, and strengthen our allegiance to God is to daily and diligently do the work. 

Now consider the statement that it is "by faith that miracles are wrought." It is consistent adherence to correct principles and duty that works miracles. The evidence of this is out there if you know how to recognize it. One of my favorite things about studying herbalism is getting to read the miracle stories of healing with herbs. People have been healed with herbal medicine and nourishing foods. Recovery from terminal illness, restoring sight to the blind, and turning the tide on debilitating depression are recurring stories. Yet not everyone heals even when given the same or similarly appropriate herb. What makes the difference? Their faith. 

Not their belief that they can be healed because that's more hope than it is faith. No, their faith--their loyalty to their treatment, their diligence in avoiding substances that will hurt them, their strict adherence to principles of health, their dedication to doing the things that will lead to healing. That faith. That faith leads to miracles. You can hope all you want that you will be healed. You can believe healing is possible. But without faith, hope is empty. Hollow. All the hoping in the world won't save your life when you know your heart or mind or body needs nourishment. 

Here's a little piece of advice. The next time you're trying something and you're looking for specific results, don't just hope it will work. Have faith it will work and faithfully do whatever it takes to realize that hope. 

I might have been wrong about faith, but I did get a few things right. 

From A Different Kind of Crazy, "[Faith] is the kind of crazy that's defined by hard work that yields results." 

From You Get What You Expect, "Faith is imagining the unimaginable and expecting it to happen. Faith is hope for the amazing in hopeless situations. (Note: This is not the same as 'hoping for the best and seeing what happens' which is essentially lip-servicing hope while still expecting the worst.) Faith is all out, fully invested, no doubts, no regrets expectation for uncountable blessings, untold opportunities, and unimaginable possibilities."

All out. Fully invested. No doubts. No regrets. With that kind of faith you are 100% committed to doing whatever is required to realize those unimaginable possibilities. It's that kind of loyalty that lets you "ask in faith" and then, "nothing wavering," stick to the path no matter what. That's the faith that gets results. That's the faith that works miracles. 

2 Nephi 26:13; Moroni 7:37; Ether 12:18; Hebrews 11:1, Alma 32:21; James 2:17; James 1:6; definitions sourced from Merriam-Webster Dictionary online and Dictionary.com