Is Your Faith in God or Something Else?
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In our daily lives, we all place our trust in something. Much of the time, we do this without thinking. We trust machines to function; we trust systems to work; we trust people to keep their word.
However, if we think about it, we quickly realize all these things fail our trust at one point or another. We then begin to look for ways to fix those systems or people, or we try to find new things to place our trust in.
The Bible asks us a fundamental question: where do you place your trust? And truly, there are only two options: God or something else. One day, our lives will be judged on this point, and we can’t blindly trust something or someone and expect an excuse upon that day. We should consciously and willingly examine our hearts and ask ourselves the most important question.
Is our faith in God or something else?
What Is Faith?
Biblically, as my mentor defined it, faith is the perception and pursuit of God and his unseen, heavenly reality. It isn’t a blind belief or wishful thinking. Instead, through faith, God gives us the ability to see beyond what is visible. Faith perceives a greater, more powerful, unseen reality: the person and Kingdom of God. Faith looks past circumstances and glimpses the eternal. From this, we choose to pursue the Father and heaven.
God gives faith as a gift. No one earns it or manufactures it from their will, intelligence, discipline, or bloodline. In his mercy, God opens spiritual eyes so we can see the truth. Without this revelation from God, no one would naturally seek or trust him. Through faith, we are saved by grace, and we start to follow God.
With faith, we believe, trust, and hope in something or someone. Faith is a foundation for life, meant to bring structure and hope stronger than our circumstances, emotions, or intellect. From this faith, we act. All humans long to believe in something and to act from those beliefs. While true faith is a gift of God, people are made to have faith. We will have faith in something, it just may not be the only thing worthy of it.
What Are Our Options for Faith?
We can place faith in many things. Some people trust in themselves, in their own abilities, intelligence, and strength. Our modern culture repeats this like a mantra: believe in yourself! People believe hard work and discipline will bring success and happiness.
Others place faith in people, like friends, spouses, leaders, or mentors. Relationships start to give them meaning and stability. In another common way, people believe in systems like education, government, or the economy. They trust in structures to provide protection, justice, and opportunity.
Behind much of these structures are philosophical ideologies, both political and social. We think if society would adopt a certain way of thinking, life would improve and injustice wouldn’t happen. This includes religions and spiritual paths.
Finally, some people place their faith in nothing at all. At least from what they express, they live with no belief in anything beyond what they can see or touch or explain.
Without God, however, all these will fail us. Self, other people, systems, ideologies, religions, or nothing, we have plenty of evidence that all of these fail us in the end. We know our own limitations and brokenness. People make mistakes and disappoint us. Systems prove to be corrupt and weak. Governments change every few years. Ideologies reveal their logical inconsistencies all the time. Religions without God at the center offer no hope, only confusion and more oppression of one kind or another. Placing faith in nothing, itself illogical, gives us no anchor or meaning, which we desperately long for when difficult times come our way.
We long to believe in something, to have faith which will give us hope and contentment. And only faith in God provides this lasting and solid foundation. God has unlimited power and knowledge, and importantly, he loves us. He makes promises and is faithful to them. His kingdom lasts forever. He invites us into a relationship, not a legalistic religion. He gives us meaning, purpose, and hope.
In the end, we place faith in something or someone. But will it hold? Only faith in God will.
What Does It Mean to Have Faith in God?
To have faith in God alone means we trust him with everything — for our good, for the good of others, and for the good of the world. We don’t divide our loyalty. We place our full confidence in who God is, what he’s done, and what he will do. He alone has the power, glory, and ability to change and redeem life from the dead.
Faith in God alone recognizes nothing else can save us: not ourselves, others, systems, religions, intellect, or wealth. Only God can rescue, renew, and sustain. To trust him means we don’t look for backup plans. He alone is enough. Circumstances change and people fail, even ourselves, but we hold firm to him, saying to God, “Even here and now, I will trust you.”
The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit do not make up a worldly system or idea that we can manipulate or control. Faith in God rejects the deception of our control. He isn’t a religious idol that we treat like a vending machine to get what we want. Instead, we surrender fully to his will, ways, and timing, knowing he will ultimately work all for good.
Faith in God alone first gives us deep inner satisfaction, hope, and love for others. This then shapes our decisions and how we treat others. With God’s glory as our highest goal, we have peace and strength when life is difficult. We love for the good of others, sacrificially, because we trust God to work through our lives for his good purpose.
Such faith rests and acts from God the Person, his work in the past, present, and promises for the future. We declare, “Lord, you alone are enough, always and forever.”
Why Does God Test Our Faith?
Faith in God doesn’t mean we won’t have difficulties. In some ways, we encounter greater struggles because we try to trust in the unseen while living in a world we see. Faith in God alone doesn’t happen all at once. It’s a journey, and along the way, God must expose our hearts and misplaced expectations and trust to place more confidence in him.
Faith that never faces trials stays shallow or unstable. We may feel or say we trust God, but that’s easy to say when things go well. God, in his love, shakes what can be shaken to call us to rely on what cannot be shaken, what really lasts. When pressure comes and the things we expected or counted on fall apart, we want to give up on God. But we strengthen our faith when we choose to continue trusting him during these struggles.
God also tests our faith to reveal it for what it is. Jesus didn’t need to learn faith in the Father, his difficulties and the cross revealed him as the Son of God. The same can be true with us. Trials reveal to others the work he has already done. When we walk through suffering with hope, peace, patience, and joy, people see the supernatural at work. Our test becomes a testimony. The trials become a way to encourage others, glorify him, strengthen the church, and mock the evil, unseen powers in the heavens.
Testing teaches us to trust God in hard times, stretching our faith beyond the easy places and be more like Christ. When we endure through fear and loss, we learn how God’s faithfulness doesn’t change, and his presence stays with us. His promises prove true, further strengthening our faith for next time.
Sometimes we don’t understand why God allows certain trials, but he never wastes our pain. He uses every part of our lives, good and bad, to draw us closer to himself and prove he is enough. When we persevere in trust, our faith shines, and our lives reflect his strength, not ours.
God loves us too much to let us trust in things that fail, so he tests our faith to have the best of this life and the next in him alone.
Examine Your Heart to See Where You Have Placed Your Faith
We begin by engaging with the Holy Spirit. We can’t know our own hearts without his help. The Spirit reveals what is hidden and corrects us to truth, all in love to help us live lives of peace. Without the Spirit, our self-examination can be self-deceiving. We give license to what we should not, or condemn what isn’t important. But when we invite the Spirit to search our hearts, he reveals with clarity and power for our good.
Hearing God’s voice works with reading the Bible, also inspired and aligned with the Spirit. Scripture reveals who God is and what it looks like to live by faith. Reading it with open and humble hearts, the Spirit will speak to us, showing us where our trust truly rests. Is it in God or somewhere else? The answers come through willingly and consistently reading the Bible and listening to the Spirit.
Through other disciplines — especially prayer and participating in a strong faith community — he will show us the lies we believe and where we have misplaced our trust. When he does, we respond with repentance and renewed trust, not shame. He doesn’t seek to punish us but to redeem us to greater good.
The process of examining our hearts requires absolute humility, admitting what we can’t know and what only God can reveal. The human heart naturally clings to pride, thinking we’ve got it all worked out. It takes courage to ask these hard questions and accept the answers. Finally, it takes a heart that loves the truth more than our comfort, pride, or the things of this world.
Placing faith in God isn’t a one-time act but a way of life. The more we listen and submit, the more he reveals. We then trust and grow to greater faith and blessing in him.
Peace.
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Klaus Vedfelt
