Faith And Trust

Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

One of the recurring themes in the bible as well as interpretations of the bible is that of faith. It's interesting, though, how the translation of the words in its original meanings have been re-identified as something else.

Faith, as used in the Hebrew Bible, is never used as something that is possessed, but rather as something which is performed. One does not "have" faith but can only "be" faithful. Looking up the word in any online bible dictionary will give you this meaning: to support, uphold, nourish, be faithful. Other definitions given include to be certain, firmness as in a belief, or to trust. These are all words which describe actions, not something which can be possessed.

As used in the New Testament, the word faith carries similar meanings: to persuade or be persuaded, to listen to, obey, or to trust. The particular meaning of today's use of the word, pistis, is that of a deep conviction of something you believe in, or better put - complete trust.

Trust is not something you simply possess. It's something that takes time to develop as much as it takes a lot of work to maintain. In order to have complete trust in someone or something one can have no doubt that what it is they are trusting will never bring harm to them. We trust our pastor, our life-partner, our closest friends. We trust that when we place our life's savings into a retirement account, that money will be there for our future. We even trust the little things like when we go to sit down the chair will be under us.

Trust is not something we can simply say we have and be done with it. Otherwise trust becomes complacent and turns into something else, something akin to taking our loved ones for granted. When we allow trust to stop developing, we stop growing in our relationships. Our faith, if you will, becomes tainted and not something that is completely shared by others, nor is it something that others want to share in.

As Lent continues I hope to repair or rebuild any of my relationships which have become untrustworthy. I plan to take a closer look at those around me in whom I have allowed the relationship to become complacent and therefore allowed the pistis to fall apart.