Faith is the subject of a new small group I helped start at Seattle Pacific University. It's an incredibly broad subject but gives us a lot of room to play with.
The Bible teaches us that faith is being sure of what we hope for an certain of what we do not see. The book of Hebrews gives us an incredible insight to this subject and leaves us in awe of what we have to do in order to "keep the faith." Hebrews 11:6 says that "without faith it is impossible to please God." If it is impossible to please Him without faith, then shouldn't we discipline ourselves in our faith lives? This is also the most difficult idea in Christianity because it all has to do with what we do not know. While it makes sense theologically, in a practical mindset, it can drive one crazy. The reason it is impossible to please our Creator without faith is because without faith, there is not relationship with Him. You see, he is the unknown, and while he could open the skies and show his face to all of us he wishes not to. This is because he gave man free will in the Garden of Eden (Gen 2, 3). We must realize that our gift of free will is one that is to be taken with extreme care. Free will created faith, giving us the opprotunity to trust or ignore God. The fact that a Creator loved us so much that he would initially let us do whatever the hell we wanted to do on this earth is pretty dang loving. He's not called "abounding in love" for nothing.
This initial act of love he showed to humanity is very telling of His character. I will never understand why He didn't make things easier and just make us robots (like our friends the plants) and have us be God worshipping machines, but I think He really loves you and me.
Faith is all about accepting this reality and then joining it. God is alive - He is present and active - faith lets us adore the unseen.
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