You Are What You Hear – Michael Austin
There is no better description of faith than the one given to us in the Bible. When we read the Letter to the Hebrews 11:1, it tells us that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen”. Faith makes us see things with the eyes of the mind; it gives us the certainty that there is more to reality than meets the physical eye.
From the above description, faith could further be said to be a fundamental aspect of the life of human beings which makes them believe in the existence of a divinity, and they worship this said divinity and look upon him/her as the reason for their existence. In Christianity, faith is the belief in God Almighty, the One who created the heavens and the earth in the beginning (cf. Genesis 1).
It is often said that “you are what you eat”. But in the discourse on Christian faith, it could be affirmed that “you are what you hear”. This is because “faith comes from hearing” (Romans 10:17). This means that in order to believe in God, one must first of all hear something said about Him. Belief cannot be automatically acquired at conception or at birth. It is the fruit of conscientious effort that is expressed through listening. At times, listening is not enough; one has to explain the faith to others. This was the case with Philip (the deacon) and the Ethiopian eunuch. In the Acts of the Apostles 8:26-40, we read that the eunuch was reading the book of the Prophet Isaiah but was not understanding it. The angel of the Lord ministered to Philip to go to the desert road that leads from Jerusalem to Gaza and be of aid to the eunuch. This was what saved the day! The eunuch later asked to be baptized because he had been illumined by the light of faith through the explanation of Philip.
Another dimension of the faith is the speaking aspect. At times when there is the talk on faith, people are quick to stress only the listening aspect. Sometimes we forget that for listening to occur, there has to be someone speaking. It has to be stated that for you to become what you hear, there is always something to be said in order for you to hear. So, both the speaking and the listening are equally important. The speaker has to do his/her part with clarity and conviction, while the listener has to pay great attention so that he/she can hear and assimilate the message. The eunuch spoken of above was able to comprehend the Prophet Isaiah because he paid attention to Philip’s exposition of the book.
The journey of faith is certainly one that is not without hurdles. One of these is the reality of doubt. At times people reach the point of doubting what they believe. This should not be surprising nor demoralizing. In fact, even the disciples had their moments in which they were not sure on whether to believe in Christ. A clear example is that of Thomas. He doubted the highest point of Christian belief: the Resurrection of Christ. In moments of doubts, two things can happen: our faith can either be rejuvenated and reinforced, or we may tilt towards unbelief. We have to try our best to make sure that we find ourselves in the former. Like Thomas, our doubt must lead us to an even greater faith in Christ, a faith which will make us heartily exclaim: “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).
In conclusion, faith should not only be about what you hear, but it also involves putting it into practice. So, it could be said that faith is about what you hear and what you do. It is for this reason that we are rightly told in the Letter of James 2:17: “…faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead”. So, what animates faith is works. For one to be adjudged faithful, he/she must not only be a hearer, but also a doer of the Word of God” (cf. Matthew 7:26).