What Is Faith? [Questions That Haunt]

In case you missed it over the weekend (since I missed my Friday deadline), on Sunday I posted my response to last week’s question, in which I argued that God is not omniscient in the way that most people think God is.

This week’s question comes from Steve, a pastor. I know that a lot of reader of this blog struggle with “faith” and “belief,” and that many of us have one foot in faith and one foot out. So it’s probably a good challenge for us to step away from the recent theological questions and ask a more personal, existential question. Steve asks,

Since being diagnosed with cancer six months ago, I find myself revisiting my understanding of terms like faith and hope.  Next month I preaching about faith the topic of faith.  In the process of preparing for the two sermons I am going to preach the thought occurred to me that I might benefit from other people’s insights. Here’s my question, how would you define faith? What does it mean to have faith in the midst of living your life?

Give Steve your best answer, and I’ll respond on Friday.