The Whole Idea Of FAITH

• A friend and I had a chat during one of the breaks when I was in college about a week ago. Both of us being christians, we started discussing about our religion and God. Then she asked a question which I might have thought of, but never really taken note of. She asked me, "If God already know the future, and that He know what is in stored for us, why does He still want us to go through life, why can't He just place us all in the future, coz its gonna happen anyway, isn't it?" I was shocked for a moment. She was right, at least partially. God does know our future, how we will be like and where we will all be. She was right in saying that God has the ability to just place us all in where we were supposed to be. God can do everything. God can even brainwash all of us and turn us all into christians, serving Him with no complains. God can do all these. Why didn't He?
• This set me thinking. And soon after, I began asking God these questions. The answer? Faith. Faith is what christianity is all about. According to dictionary.com, faith is: Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing. Thats faith in the eyes of the world. To have trust for something. To trust that this post will be posted on the internet is faith. But thats according to the world. To christians, what is faith? Well, I copied this from my outreach programme: Faith is not mere intellectual assent, Faith is believing that Jesus Christ is our key to salvation, Faith is the Key that opens the door to heaven.
• Yes, faith = trusting Jesus Christ for salvation. If God brainwashed all the humans and made them all christians, we won't have faith, coz it is built in us, it is not faith. What God wants in all of us is real faith that He is real, that He will be able to save us all, thats why He gave all of us a free will. A will to choose.
• You see, Ephesians 2:8 says "For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God" It is through faith that we have been saved! Faith is the key to salvation. Believing in Jesus Christ is the key to salvation. And to see the faith in us is the reason why God does not brainwash people, it is the reason why God does not skip the process of living on Earth for us. It is to see the faith built in us, to see the faith in us that we can trust and believe something which we cannot see. In John 20:24-29, it is said that Thomas did not want to believe Jesus rose again unless he see Jesus. Eventually, Jesus appeared to him and said "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." Yep, that is exactly what faith is all about.
• Then you ask me, why bother about faith? Why is God so concerned about people having faith in Him? Well, all I can say is, that God is concerned about our heart. He loves us all and wants all of us to go to heaven to be with Him. But we need to deserve it. Thats where faith come in. Faith is the key to heaven, as I have said earlier. When we have faith in God, we can be in heaven coz God knows our heart. Faith is the best thing that we can offer God, thats why it is the key to heaven.
• Why is faith the best thing we can offer? Matthew 8:5-13 tells us about the faith of a centurion, who has so much faith in Jesus as he told Jesus that Jesus need only to say the word so that his servant can be healed. This is so great that in verse 10, it said: "When Jesus heard this, he was astonished..." Wah, Jesus astonished leh! Can you make the son of God astonished? Only by faith can you do that! Faith is such a wonderful thing!
• That is why we as Christians focus so much on believing. It is because only by truly believing in your heart that Jesus can provide you with salvation that you can truly receive slavation and go to heaven. It is not just the mere act of accepting Christ as your Lord and saviour, faith is a very important component afterall!