True Faith

Passage

“"And the LORD said, "Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech."
Genesis 11:6-7 (NKJV)

Pondering

I’ve heard preachers use the tower of Babel episode positively to show, as they say, If men are united and have enough faith, nothing is impossible for them, and the audience erupts in applause. However, this story is a negative example of positive thinking! God is showing that man should not visualize and positive think his way to a course of action that is opposed to God’s plan, as the tower of Babel was.

The Biblical word used for faith is the Greek word "pistis", meaning confident trust in God that leads to obedient action. Modern English has different meanings for Faith, Belief and Trust, but all these English words are used to interpret ""pistis" in the New Testament. These English words have been morphed into meaning something very different to their Biblical counterpart - Today "Faith" has come to mean "Confident belief that something unseen will be manifest", "Belief" has come to mean "mental assent to something" and "Trust" has been reduced to some passive acknowledgement of a person's faithfulness.

An illustration that well shows the true Biblical meaning of Faith is that of a tightrope walker who walked across the heights of Niagara Falls on a tightrope blindfolded. After that he took a wheelbarrow and pushed it across with a bag of potatoes inside. Then he called to the adoring crowd below saying, "Who believes I can push a man across in the wheelbarrow?" All hands went up. Then he pointed to one of the men with his hand up and said, "Ok. You believe I can do it then get in the wheelbarrow now". The man looked at his watch, made and excuse and quickly ran away. He had mental assent that the tightrope walker could do it but had no real faith as he was unwilling to trust and obey!

Whenever you see Faith, Belief or Trust in the New Testament the meaning is simply Trust and Obey the Lord! God seeks trusting men and women not positive thinkers!

Poem

Faith is not believing great things will happen to me,
It's not visualizing a wondrous future we will one day see.
It's simple trust in Jesus that He's my Shepherd King,
Where He leads i'll follow, and in valley or mountain i'll sing!

Prayer

"Father, help me to display real faith in you. Help me to simply trust you and obey your word. Keep me from dreams and desires that will lead me away from your will. You are my shepherd and where You lead I will follow. Amen!"