For the Christian and non-Christian alike, faith is common. A biblical definition of faith is provided by the writer of Hebrews:

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1, NASB95)

Faith is fundamentally about things unseen. Faith is belief in an invisible object, perhaps an object that no longer exists, or one that does not yet exist. One might then think the terms ‘faith’ and ‘blind faith’ are wholly redundant, that they are synonyms. Not so. Blind faith is belief without understanding, reason, thought, knowledge, or experience. Blind faith becomes informed faith if the effects, manifestations, or other evidences of the invisible object of faith are perceived and observed by man. Blind faith is the most narrow, most stringent, most specific type of faith. At its essence it is “pure” faith. But in this sense the value of faith lies not in the purity of the faith. The value of faith is dependent upon the object of faith, not the type of faith one holds. Faith in the force of gravity is not justified because one purely and dearly holds such faith, faith in gravity is justified because gravitational force is consistent and dependable.

Faith is very important to the Christian, but for most it is not blind faith. Any spiritual belief, given the invisible nature of spiritual things, requires faith. But the Christian need not hold belief without understanding, knowledge or experience. God is Spirit, and as such, invisible. But He has given mankind knowledge, revelation and manifestations of Himself over the course of human history, these are recorded in scripture and other testimonies of men. The Christian certainly believes in things unseen, in God who is spirit and unseen. But every man is able to see evidence of God in His creation, His written Word, testimonies of men, and even in providence and circumstance, if he looks with an open mind.

A child has faith in his mother to care, feed and love him. That is not blind faith. Even with undeveloped mental and sensory capabilities an infant is still able to understand and expect a mother’s love and care. True, one cannot see love, but the child experiences it nonetheless, and the infant experiences, recognizes and responds to love’s effect. It is no different for the Christian whom scripture ubiquitously identifies as a child of God. The church does not believe in a Christ who is dead and will become alive at some future time. It is true that Christ died and will one day return and rule with His people. But Christ is not dead, He laid down His life for us, but He rose three days later, He is alive today.

After rising from the dead Christ spent time with his disciples. He talked to them. He talked with them. He listened to them. He walked with them. He taught them. He cooked for them. He ate with them. He then left them and returned to His Father in Heaven. Christ’s specific instruction upon his departure was not to take the good news to all the world, His initial instruction was to wait. A week and a half later came Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit came to empower and indwell each and every Christian. The Christian need not serve Him in the blind until one’s death. God has not removed Himself from the brethren until His return at some distant time. The events surrounding Christ’s death on the cross teach that if called upon, the Christian can and should obediently wait on the Lord. But a message of these events, and this is a lesson consistently repeated in the whole of scripture, is that God does not leave us alone to blindly wait in the desert for a future kingdom. Yes, we wait and long for the return of Christ and full realization of His eternal kingdom, but today we are children of the living God. He loves us, He cares for us, He values and desires our worship and our fellowship. This is true where we are, today.

This truth underlies Paul’s messages in Galatians and I Corinthians:

““For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:19–20, NASB95)

“For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.” (1 Corinthians 2:11–13, NASB95)

Faith deals with the unseen. But faith need not, and is best not, exercised without knowledge of, or experience with, the object of the faith. In the physical realm, knowledge and experience go together hand in hand in supporting faith in the unseen, as with the unseen force of gravity for example. Knowledge and experience are both physically verifiable and can be used to extrapolate into the unseen, into the arena of unseen forces or into an unseen future. In spiritual matters we have available significant but limited verifiable knowledge in the physical realm, such as God’s spoken word in scripture. This knowledge testifies to the object of faith, which is unseen. Also, since man in his reborn state exists with a spiritual component, the Christian possesses the capability of directly experiencing spiritual things. The Christian is able to reconcile spiritual experiences with physical knowledge regarding God, who is spirit and unseen. Even to the point of experiencing fellowship with God Himself insofar as He is willing to reveal Himself and manifest Himself to an individual man or woman. With the Holy Spirit, man has available knowledge, reason, evidence and experience together on which to base the practice of faith.

It can be difficult for man to trust spiritual experience, this with valid cause. The earth is a place of spiritual warfare. War zones are dangerous places. It is right to be wary of spiritual experience, particularly isolated experiences. Malevolence exists in the invisible realm as surely as it does in the visible. But experience still accords opportunity. A multi-stranded cord is the strongest form of rope. The Christian is made up of body, mind, heart, and spirit. God’s plan includes the Holy Spirit indwelling each child of God, helping, empowering, and sealing the Christian until the day of redemption. God has created man with a physical body and mind, yet the Christian is made a new creature, one with a new spirit. The body of the Christian houses both the temporal and the eternal. In relationship and fellowship, the Christian operates both in the spiritual and physical realms, with both God and man. All this while still here on earth, at this time.

GOD IS TRULY AMAZING! ALL GLORY TO GOD!!