Set Yourself Apart
by Catherine Gerges
What is faith?
Faith is defined as a complete trust or confidence in someone or something or, strong belief in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual conviction rather than proof. Based on these definitions we can look at faith in a faithless society from two different perspectives.
The first definition of faith can be applied in a “worldly context”. In a world where the media portrays betrayal, jealousy, coveting and all the other evils present in the world we cannot blame society for lacking faith. How can we have trust and confidence in people in general when all we see is the evil in them. Evil is magnified in this world, the good is supressed and as such it can be easy be completely pessimistic in our dealings. To have faith in a faithless society something about us must be different. When everyone is going one way an individual must choose a different path. We must choose to see the good, look for it, seek it out. Instead of stalking models on social media, stalk a spiritual page, instead of watching the dramatized news outlets portray the happenings of the day choose the more reliable, make your own opinions, see the other sides of the story. Instead of gossiping about someone, ask them, speak to them, support them. Instead of seeing the glass as half empty, see it as half full. The way we have faith is by looking for the good, believing in the good despite all the evil. In a faithless world this is not easy but that is why it is called a leap of faith, if it were easy, we would call it a step.
The second perspective, and probably the more relevant for us as Christians, is the religious perspective. The definition above states belief based on spiritual conviction rather than proof; that is believing without seeing. In an overly educated and logical world it can be easy to be bogged down in proof equals fact, but proof comes in different forms. The world tells us we must see to believe, science says if it is not supported by evidence it cannot be a fact, but we must not be ignorant for Christianity does have proof beyond the confides of spiritual convictions. Historians noted the life of Jesus, the Bible correlates with history, this is proof in and of itself. Furthermore, a person’s relationship with God, the peace and comfort we receive when we are in distress and call out to him, although not a physical form of proof, supports our beliefs. The world wants hard facts in order to believe in something, but this is foolish in and of itself. I remember hearing a quote someone said: they asked the listener do you believe in the wind, the listener said yes, he said but you do not see the wind how can you believe in it and he replied because I feel it. Proof comes in many forms; feelings are a form of proof. It is important for us not to be ignorant for we believe without seeing yes but we do not believe without proof. The ignorance of the world is what leads to a faithless society, and for us to remain faithful among these faithless people we must strive to be different. We must acknowledge our personal encounters with Christ, the way he saves us, supports us, heals us, hears us and carries us through life. If we do not recall and remember these things our faith dies, and we become as those around us.
Set yourself apart from the world. This is the way we become faithful. The faithless society around us leads us to a multitude of sin and leads our spirit to depression and anguish “but do not fear for He has overcome the world”
Glory Be to God. Amen.