Defining faith

Faith....

Something that I have been thinking a lot about lately. Faith is something that I thought I knew the meaning to.  I have been "told" by many people what faith is.  It seems we all have our "own" definition of what faith is but is "our" definition the same as what God tells us in His word. 

First, lets see what the world says faith is:  According to Wikipedia faith is confident belief or trust in the truth or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing.  Websters defines faith as allegiance to duty or a person; something that is believed especially with strong conviction.

But what does God tell us about faith? In Romans 10:17 He tells us how we obtain faith " So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." In Heb 11:6 He tells us without faith its impossible to please Him "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." Heb 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." In James "But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works."  These are just a few of the verses that talk about faith.

From the above verses I think we can observe that what God tells us faith is and how the world "defines" faith are different.  Faith in the Bible is active, faith as the world defines it is a "belief" or "allegiance" to something or someone we don't have to do "anything". How do you define faith?

In the near future I want to post about examples we have of the men and women of the Bible and the FAITH they had and how we can have that faith. So ....Stay tuned for the rest of the story.