Can You Trust God?
By Michael A. H. Back
Part One: What is Authentic, Biblical Faith?

pisteuo: To have faith; to believe; to have absolute and complete
confidence in something; To completely trust something.

 

This alone starts our examination with a large bang.

Authentic faith doesn't have ANY doubt in it. Faith "the size of a mustard seed" doesn't mean "a little faith surrounded by a lot of doubt," it means, absolute confidence concerning even the tiniest thing.

When Jesus states in exasperation, "Oh ye of little faith . . . " what He is really doing is asking, "Why do you STILL lack confidence in me? Why don't you TRUST me?"

In order to be certain of something, we have to know at least ONE thing about it: it is TRUE! Unless we KNOW something is true, we cannot be confident in it, and we cannot completely trust it.

But when relating this to BIBLICAL truth, this Greek definition is only PART of the story. Faith is like a huge JEWEL in the crown of Christianity, and it is made up of five basic facets. The definition above leads us to our first facet.

1) MENTAL: Acknowledgment of the truth.

The first facet of Biblical faith is that we KNOW the truth, and we completely and totally accept that it is true. We have no doubts.

But confidence alone does not make this Authentic, Biblical faith.

2) PHYSICAL: Physical reliance on the truth.

3) CHARACTER: Moral adherence to the truth:

The third facet of Biblical faith is having a clear conscience about our actions. We cannot have faith if our conscience is bothering us. Sometimes that could be because of lack of understanding, sometimes it could be because the Holy Spirit is speaking to us, and we need to listen.

 

All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall. So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin. Romans 14:20-23

If you do not have a clear conscience about something, if you have a nagging feeling of guilt about it, then you cannot do it with Biblical faith. It could be due to lack of knowledge, or it could be the Holy Spirit speaking to your spirit, but either way, only when you have a clear conscience about your action does that action spring from Biblical faith.

4) FOCUS: God is the object of our faith.

The fourth facet of Biblical faith is making God the object of our confidence and trust. Faith is not a "force" in nature [as in Star Wars] that we can tap into; it is a TOOL that allows us access to the power and promises of our God and savior, with whom we have a personal relationship.

And the scripture was fulfilled that says, 'Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, 'and he was called the friend of God.
James 2:23

It is not just FAITH that matters . . . it is WHO we place that faith IN that makes the difference. Faith without a focus on God is not Biblical faith.

5) WORLDVIEW: Faith changes the way we see the world

The fifth facet of Biblical faith is that it completely changes how we view everything: ourselves, other people, our careers, our purpose on this earth, history, science, philosophy, morality, spirituality, etc. It completely changes us as we begin to see the world through God's eyes, and our entire outlook on everything shifts over to a Biblical worldview.

 

Literal Greek on Hebrews 11:1

Faith is the foundation for our sure and eager expectations, the proof that makes us certain of things not seen.

The ONLY way we can be sure and confident of things we cannot see is if we GENUINELY trust the God in whom we have placed our faith. That means, we must be completely confident that God IS who He claims to be, and that He really will DO all He has said He will do: for us and for humanity.

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