What I believe about ... faith

(This is the first post in a "What I believe about ..." series. My opinions are based on what I've read, heard, and experienced, but are by no means an exhaustive discourse on the particular topic.)

Faith has everything to do with getting us to heaven. Our faith in Jesus and His redeeming sacrifice is of supreme importance. The New Testament talks about our saving faith a lot, such as in 1 Peter 1:3-9. And that's what you hear about from most Christians, which is great. As Peter writes, the goal of our faith is the salvation of our souls.

But what I've come to realize in the last several years is that faith is not just for heavenly things. In fact, God wants Christians to have faith concerning things on earth as well. When Jesus talks about faith, most of the time He's not talking about faith for salvation but rather faith for healing or other miracles. For example, when the Canaanite woman came to Jesus and had her faith tested (Matthew 15:21-28), He commended her "great faith" for her daughter's healing, not for her own salvation. Jesus says if we have faith as small as a mustard seed, we can command mountains to be cast into the sea--which has very little to do with heaven.

For Jesus, faith was the key to seeing God's hand move on earth, not only in the spiritual realm. When Jesus visited his hometown, the people there were disbelieving because they knew Jesus before He started His ministry. (Mark 6:1-6) They said, "Isn't this the carpenter?" As a result, the Bible says, "He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith."

The point of this post is that many Christians think about faith in terms of salvation, but miss the prerequisite of faith for the fullness of what God wants to do here on earth. This "heaven-only" view of faith translates into wrong doctrine and lack of faith concerning the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit (that they are not seen today, and therefore are extinct). Really, why not believe in healing and prophesy today? Because of your reading of Hebrews 2:3-4? Because of church history? Because you don't see that in your own congregation?

Faith is for seeing Jesus' work carried out in our everyday lives, not just on the day we first believed. Did Jesus say, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will have eternal salvation?" No, He said, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." (John 14:11-13)

That's some of what I believe about faith.