20 October | Teens
«For I am not ashamed of the gospel [c]of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek…. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”» Romans 1: 16,17
If there is one biblical word that is known almost everywhere in the world, but which is unfortunately misunderstood, it is faith. What is faith? Is it like positive thinking? The more I pray, the more faith I have? I used to think that as I prayed, I was filling up a little bar of spiritual energy (like in video games). When it was completely full, then God would answer me!
In simple terms, faith is believing in something you can't see. Now follow me through the difficulty of understanding faith properly: the word ‘faith’ is more than believing. What is faith then? Is it trust? So why didn't the biblical texts use the word “trust”, but faith? Having faith involves believing and trusting, but faith is more than that.
The most practical way of understanding faith for me is through its Hebrew word: emuwnah. Emuwnah means more than intellectual belief. It means faithfulness, steadfastness. For example, if you were drowning at the beach and saw a buoy, what would you do? When you got close to it, you would grab it with all your might, wouldn't you? That's what emuwnah really means. And it's from this word that “amen” comes, which means: in this I believe, in this I stand!
In today's verse, we learn that the righteous will live by faith. This means holding on to faith very firmly in all situations in life, even when things seem difficult or confusing. May you live your life as if Jesus were the only “buoy” to save you from the rough seas of life! That's living by faith!
Take Action
Take a buoy and write emuwnah on it. Every time you see it, you'll be reminded of what it really means to have faith!