I’ll begin by asking a question: How long have you been alive? This may seem like a strange question to ask; however, I hope the more words I share, the more its purpose will become obvious.

Let’s talk about faith. If you’re a religious person, you no doubt have an explanation for faith that hails from an ancient text. For those of us of the Christian tradition it is these words: Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. But, let’s consider something here that you may not have given substantial thought to, that faith is a necessary ingredient for living.

Let me ask another question: Can any human being live without holding unto faith of some kind? I would venture to say undoubtedly, no. When was the last time you flipped on a light switch? Why did you flip it? You did it obviously to shed illumination on some area that needed it. From experience of flipping light switches, and instantly seeing that light ensued, you had faith that future flipping would result in the same again.

If you’re not a person of the faith community, you know that group of folks who have faith in a non-corporeal entity, you might be saying a light switch is much more concrete that someone or something I can’t see, touch smell, etc. I respect that but consider this. When you flip on a light switch, don’t you have confidence that movement of the switch will result in light? When was the last time you journeyed down to the regional or local electric generating plant to see where electricity comes from and to make sure the mechanisms were there and working properly? I would dare say that there is a relatively small portion of the population that sees the equipment at an electric plant regularly. Yet we operate based on what others have said, and we have confidence that the plants are located all around the country.

You might be thinking at this point, at least the few people who’ve seen an electric plant can testify to their authenticity. Who am I to question them? Consider this: Those of the Christian tradition are basing their faith on the testimony of others who have witnessed the presence of God on earth. The New Testament isn’t just a compilation of stories written in the genre of fairy tales. There are people providing eye-witness testimony to the presence of God on earth in the embodiment of Jesus Christ.

Of course, I realize that I probably haven’t provided an overwhelming argument here for having faith in God; however, if you’ll recall, that wasn’t my purpose. My purpose was to address the question of whether faith is intangible or not. Most dictionaries define intangible as: unable to be touched or grasped; not having physical presence. Isn’t it awesome how faith is so prevalent in all our lives, and that it only exists in each of our lives when we’re still living? Intangible though it may be, it’s woven into the fabric of all our lives. For something so intangible, it must be in place before we step out of the house each day. We can’t choose to be without it.

I’m old and blessed…hope you will be too.