Faith Is ...

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.  
-Hebrews 11:1
 
American poet Emily Dickinson once wrote:
 
"Faith" is a fine invention
                For Gentlemen who see!
                But Microscopes are prudent
                In an Emergency!
 
And a portion of another of her writings ...
 
                Faith - is the Pierless Bridge
                Supporting what We see
                Unto the Scene that We do not -
 
Though Emily was brought up in a Calvinist household, attended religious services with her family, and received her first Bible at the age of 13 - a gift from her father - Dickinson did not join the church and ultimately stopped attending services altogether.  Despite this, her poems reveal a keen interest in issues of faith and doubt.
 
Critical analysis of the first allegory commonly refers to Ms. Dickinson's life-long struggle to reconcile her family's traditional Christian beliefs with newly emerging scientific concepts.  Yet, in the second poem, it is most interesting that she equates faith with the image of a pierless bridge.
 
As Christians, we affirm that Jesus Christ is made the sure foundation of our lives, in whom we put our confidence alone.  Our faith is not a state of being, but a process of becoming what we are called to be in relationship to God, other people, and the world.  To the unbeliever, faith may not hold any substance in the real world because the eye cannot perceive it.  But that pierless bridge of faith is solid and takes us to something far beyond our sight, a foretaste of glory divine!

Prayer for Today 
 
Lord, our faith looks up to you, and we are wholly thine.  Our hope is built on nothing less than Christ the solid Rock.  Help us to rest in the blessed assurance that Jesus is ours, as we grow in our journey by faith and not by sight.  Amen.