![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/edge-3528319_1920.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nLet\u2019s explore this matter together over the next several posts.<\/p>\n
To begin let me borrow the acronym DNA. It stands for deoxyribonucleic acid<\/em>. It is the basic \u201cstuff\u201d of which you are made. The smart people tell us that all the DNA in your cells is the same. No matter from what part \u00a0of your body you may extract those cells they all have the same DNA. They may come from your liver, your brain or your ear lobe, but the DNA within them is the same.<\/p>\n So too, wherever \u201cfaith\u201d is found it has the same DNA. The DNA of faith, wherever it is found, whatever form in which it is displayed, whoever may be the one exercising it and in whatever arena it is on display\u2014these same basic components of faith exist.<\/p>\n Everyone lives by faith. Like me you\u2019ve heard people ask, \u201cAre you a person of faith?\u201d The question always bothers me a bit. I know what is meant, \u201cDo you adhere to a religion?\u201d But I always feel like interrupting the conversating and saying, \u201cWell of course they are!\u201d Everyone lives by faith; we all trust something or someone.<\/p>\n This is not the party line of the majority today. The prevailing notion is \u201cThe rest of us<\/em> are too smart for all this \u2018faith\u2019 nonsense!\u201d But I wonder, do you currently have a bank account? Did you drive or ride in a car recently? Have you, I wonder, breathed in the air in the last few seconds?<\/p>\n All of these are acts of faith. And all faith rests on something or someone. There is no such thing as a \u201cblind leap of faith.\u201d The phrase exists to denounce people of \u201cfaith\u201d as foolish and illogical, suggesting that the speaker is above such silliness. The fact remains, however, that everyone lives by faith and they are believing someone\u2019s word when they do.<\/p>\n So, my friend, there is something that you believe, something in which you are trusting. It may be God as revealed in the Bible. It may be yourself, your intellect, your experience, your savvy. It may be your parents, friends, spouse, or someone else. It may the natural order of things\u2014the sun coming up each morning and setting each evening, the orbit of the planets, the consistency of gravity, etc. But you trust something.<\/p>\n The point is simply that faith always has content. It rests in something. My guess is that you have believed the FDIC. You have believed in the designers of the brake system in your automobile. You believed in the furnace in your basement, that it was functioning correctly and wasn\u2019t asphyxiating you as you laid your head on the pillow last night.<\/p>\n But faith is more than content believed.<\/p>\n There is a moment when that \u201csomething\u201d comes before your heart and mind and there is a spark, a flash of insight, a connection. In that moment it is more than content received. It may be because of the character of the person before you. It may be because of the repeated nature of the action you\u2019ve observed. It may be the superior nature of the research behind a matter. But you realize you don\u2019t just know the information, you trust it.<\/p>\n Biblically, it comes about because of the awakening of the eyes of your heart by God. The apostle Paul said, \u201cI know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day\u201d<\/span> (2 Tim. 1:12). You notice it was not an idea, a concept, a proposition or thesis which Paul \u201cbelieved.\u201d It was a person\u2014he knew \u201cwhom\u201d he believed, the Person of God. Not only did Paul become aware of the content of what God said, but he was convinced that God is able to do what He has said. He was \u201cconvinced.\u201d<\/p>\n Later in the same letter Paul told Timothy, \u201cContinue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them\u201d<\/span> (2 Tim 3:14). Note the progression! First, \u201cyou have learned\u201d them. Then at some later point and by some kind of experience, Timothy, \u201cyou \u2026 have become convinced of\u201d them.<\/p>\n There is all the difference in the world between knowing something and being convinced of it.<\/p>\n However it happens, there is an \u201caha!\u201d moment. There is an awakening to the reliability of that thing\/person\/statement\/proposition. There is an awakening to the certainty of the outcome. There is an awakening the possibilities if you act in trust.<\/p>\n So you made a \u2026<\/p>\n The content encountered has flashed into conviction and so you commit yourself by taking action. In worldly terms you made a deposit money in your bank account, drove the car at 65 mph, went to sleep believing your breaths would be O2<\/sup> and not CO1<\/sup> .<\/p>\n What then is faith? These three elements are always found in the DNA of true faith . . .<\/p>\n All three are present or it is not faith. Two out of three may equal religion, strong opinion, arrogance or something else. But two out of three is not true faith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What is faith? How does it operate? How do I know if I have it? Let\u2019s explore this matter together over the next several posts. To begin let me borrow the acronym DNA. It stands for deoxyribonucleic acid. It is the basic \u201cstuff\u201d of which you are made. The smart people tell us that all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith","post-preview"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgYGxX-QG","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3266"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3268,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3266\/revisions\/3268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Content<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
Conviction<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
Commitment<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
\n