Faith . . . What does it mean?

In Genesis 12, God calls Abram (later Abraham) to leave his native country and all his relatives to “go to the land that I will show you” (v 1). This “calling” has been likened to Jesus saying to those who would become his disciples, “Leave all that you have and follow me.”
As time passed, God expounded on the promise to Abram of the blessing that he would receive and that he and his descendants would be to all the nations (12:2; 15:1-18; 17:1-21).

In the midst of this, Abram reached a point where he was questioning how all of this would take place, since he had no son. Yahweh assured Abram, “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great” and reiterated the promise (15:1-5). Genesis tells us that even before the promise was realized, Abram “believed the LORD, and [Yahweh] counted it to him as righteousness” (6). Abram’s faith was such that he is considered the father of the faithful. Paul uses him as an example in Romans and in Galatians, as did the writer of Hebrews, as well as James in his epistle.

The Bible says to “believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31) and there is a tendency by some to think that as long as I believe in God and am a good person, that is enough. However, as we put together the message of the entire Scripture we see that faith is about a willingness to follow obediently. Justification is a one time, almost transactional, occurrence, but to follow the example of Abram and the disciples, a living faith has action. A living faith based on the examples we have in God’s Word (1 Cor 10:6, 11) seems to be a willingness to follow obediently, based on a trust that God will lead faithfully. It won’t be perfect, and oftentimes God will do / allow things that we do not understand, but that is where faith comes in.

Faith is a journey. Sometimes it is challenging. But, if you are willing to walk it, you will find that Yahweh has a tendency to blow your mind!