"Faith is just Christian Guts"

Dr. Averbeck went down a rabbit trail in class last night, but it was spiritually encouraging. He went moderately off topic to discuss what faith is. His main point was

"Faith is just Christian guts!"

He went on to say that it is the guts to trust God and endure through the hard stuff for Him because He asked.

I might add that faith is living courageously for God. It is laying it all on the line just to obey! It is leaving yourself so exposed that if Yahweh doesn't show up, you're cooked. But it is more than just taking a risk. It is knowing that despite how much it looks like a risk, it's really not, because of Who God is and what He has said and what He promises to do! Hebrews 11.1 puts it like this:

"Faith IS the metaphysical reality of the things being hoped for, the proof what the stuff that's not seen"

That means that faith is like having it before you have it, its like being sure of what you can't see. When we trust God for the things we're hoping for (that is the things He's called us to hope for, not the stuff we want to hope for like finding a winning lotto ticket (but who wants dirty money?) or finding that special someone), that means that on the deepest possible level we already have it, although we are still waiting to have it on every level. It means the things we don't see yet, but want to, when we trust we have seen them. For example, if we trust in Christ, we have the proof that we will see Him, the faith is the proof. It is all the proof we need that He is real. However, trusting like this does take guts, so let's get gutsy and trust!