(Hebrews 11:1-2)
“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it, the elders obtained a good testimony.”
When non-believers hear the word faith, they often discount the word to mean "willful ignorance".
Phrases such as "taking a leap of faith" paint a picture of someone blindly committed to a path, in hopes that it will turn out in their favor.
The faith God commands of us is not this kind of "blind hope".
While, in the eyes of the unbeliever, acts of faith can sometimes look like someone jumping off a cliff to their sure death, such as when Daniel willingly went into a pit of lions or when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego willingly stepped into a furnace hot enough to kill the soldier tending it... These men of faith were not acting despite evidence. They did not possess any sort of religious fanaticism...
These men wilfully stepped into danger with sound minds that came to logical conclusions.
The truth is that we ALL operate on faith.
We eat food with faith that it isn't poisoned. We take medicine with faith that it isn't mislabeled. We have faith that our car will start when figuring out how late we are going to be to work...
God never tells us to have faith in faith (also known as "positive thinking").
Jesus commands us in Matthew 6:19-20, “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal."
Jesus is not giving us a mystical, religious concept. He is giving us practical financial advice.
An investor, utilizing faith, heeds the advice of a financial advisor when determining his investments.
In choosing Charles Schwab to handle your money, you are coming to a series of logical conclusions concerning their credentials and reliability.
God, concerning faith, simply tells us to utilize the same mental faculties when considering what Jesus says.
On the Mount of Transfiguration, the disciples witnessed a supernatural event. They saw Jesus's form changed, they saw men they believed dead, alive and speaking, they saw the terrifying presence of God... for a moment it's as if the veil between heaven and earth was torn away.
Peter, speaking for the group and not knowing how to handle the situation, immediately assumed that some religious and mystical actions needed to take place.
In proposing to build an altar, The Bible tells us "he didn't know what he was talking about".
God answered and provided the proper course of action when He said, "This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.”
No mysticism, no religious dance or building of altars...
God simply commanded that we use the mental process, in which all of us are accustomed, to examine the evidence in front of us.
When you go on to read Hebrews 11, you see a list of logical conclusions.
"By faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible." (Hebrews 11:3)
Do you understand how the worlds were framed?
When you view a tree, or the sky, or water, or the human eye... do you understand how those things were made or what they are made of?
You, after examining the evidence, may choose to believe the opinion of a cosmologist.
You would be examining the evidence of a process you did not and can not see, resulting in a logical conclusion.
You would be incorrect... but you would be utilizing faith.
"By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with Godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith." (Hebrews 11:7)
Noah, being warned by God of a process that had never occurred and of which he had no reference point in understanding, built a vessel that served no purpose for his current affairs. In doing so, not only did he save his family, but he condemned the world.
Noah put his faith in what God said.
The other inhabitants put their faith in their experience, reasoning, and estimations.
The other inhabitants were incorrect... but they utilized faith.
"By faith, the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace" (Hebrews 13:31)
Rahab, examining the evidence, concluded that it was better to side with the people who had just passed through the Red Sea as if on dry land. She saw the victories of the Israelites leading up to Jerihico and made a logical decision that the safest thing to do would be to assist them.
The other inhabitants of Jericho believed that their walls and their armies would protect them.
Their death shows that they were incorrect... but they utilized faith.
When God tells us to have the faith of Noah, Rahab, Abraham, or Daniel, He is not asking us to do something mystical or fanatical.
He is asking us to utilize a mental faculty that we have all been given and use every single day.
He is commanding us, concerning Jesus, "This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.”
(Romans 10:17)
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.