FAITH is a gift from God given to us so we can initiate our life with him, which is how our life ought to be. Let’s remember that our life is always a shared life with God. It cannot be any other way. We did not come to exist just spontaneously, out of the blue. We have been created, and we have been created for a purpose.
As creatures, we already have God our Creator at the core of our being, since our very existence depends on him. We don’t live by bread alone. We live, we exist because God keeps us in existence.
As persons, we are endowed with the spiritual faculties of intelligence and will whose principle and end can be no other than God. Our thinking and reasoning, our willing and loving, even our feeling and passions would just be floating and drifting here and there if they do not begin and end with God.
As children of God, we are the object of God’s unwavering love. Not even our sins can alter that love. It's only when we drive him away for good that we lose our contact with him.
In short, God is always with us. And he intervenes in our life all the time. We need to acknowledge this aspect of the reality that governs us and act accordingly. That's why, we should live a life faith, not just remaining in the level of reasoning and feeling.
We need to make some drastic changes in the way we understand ourselves, the way we see our life and the corresponding behavior we should be having. Fact is we still are light years away from that ideal.
Many of us, even those who proclaim themselves Christians, do not know exactly what the role of faith in our life is. For a good number of us, faith is just some pious ornament that can be put on and off at one's convenience.
Even those who say they are leading a life of faith belie their fervent affirmations because of the many areas of inconsistencies in their Christian life. And that's also because many may say they have faith, but are ignorant of its content, its practical implications and consequences.
Which is lamentable, because with faith not pursued and lived, or not lived properly, we would just be left to our own devices which, perhaps, can lead us somewhere but not where we ought to be.
We would be living not only away from God, but most likely against God. We would be deprived of God's wisdom and power. Let's remember that only when one has faith do miracles happen. It when we have faith that the impossible becomes possible.
The Letter to the Hebrews says something of the marvels that faith has done to some people:
“By faith Abel offered to God a sacrifice exceeding that of Cain, by which he obtained a testimony that he was just...
“By faith Henoch was translated, that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God had translated him...
“Without faith it is impossible to please God. For he that comes to God must believe that he is, and is a rewarder to them that seek him...
“By faith Noe, having received an answer concerning those things which as yet were not seen, moved with fear, framed the ark for the saving of his house, by which he condemned the world...” (Heb 11)
We need to study the content of our faith and try our best to live it as consistently as possible, always asking for the grace of God. Living by faith, in effect, means developing a contemplative lifestyle that would enable us to see God in everything and in everyone.
It means that our assessment of things (the many events, challenges, projects, problems, successes, failures, etc. that make up our life) is not done only in the level of reason in its many aspects (philosophy, common sense, politics, economics, etc.), but is guided and enlightened by faith, by what God tries to tell us in the many ways he communicates with us.
We have to make this business of thinking and living in faith a part not only of our personal lives, but also of our culture where everyone is sustained in his faith. We have to say enough with a lifestyle that treats faith as an alien, or a burden, or something that is inhuman.
And in this task, everyone is involved and contributes to the extent that he can.
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