Faith is important because it is at the root of the authentic life you live. There is a sequence of cause and effect that is triggered by your faith and ends with the definition of your character. It goes like this:
Your faith determines what you believe to be true in your heart of hearts. What you believe to be true in your heart determines what you think and what you value. What you think and value become your words and determine your actions. Your actions over time become your character. Your character defines who you are in terms of how you are living your life.
Your character indicates whether or not you are living an authentic life. When what you say – what you profess you believe to be true, is aligned with what you do – your character, then you are living life as your authentic self. It is when the person you are in public is the same person you are in private. It is when the person you are on the outside is aligned with the person you are on the inside. That is by definition, what it means to be a person of integrity.
When you are living your life by faith as your authentic self, you will have the answer to one of the five Big Questions of Life, namely, Who am I? Your character defines who you are and it is shaped by your faith.
When you are living your life by faith as your authentic self, you will also have the answer to another of the five Big Questions of Life, namely, What is my purpose? When you are living your life as your authentic self you are fulfilling your purpose. You are doing what you are meant to do.
When your are living your life by faith as your authentic self, you will also have the answer to one of the five Big Questions of Living, namely, How Shall I Live? When your actions and habits are based on your faith, then you are living as you should.
When what you say does not align with what you do, then you are not living life as your authentic self. Living an inauthentic life brings about a whole set of issues and problems in your life. Living an inauthentic life is a topic for a blog post.
It takes faith to believe something is true in your heart of hearts. Faith in whomever or whatever is the source of your truth. It does not matter if it is blind faith or faith with reason. It is faith nonetheless.
Some may say that what they believe to be true is not based on faith, but on facts. Things that are known or have been proven to be true. To this point of view I would humbly submit that the facts upon which they rely on for their truth are still based on their faith (or belief) that the provider of their facts is providing them with true facts. Not alternate facts, not qualified facts, just the real facts without any moral or political influence.
Even if one has all the real facts, they only represent part of the truth. Truth is not made up of facts alone. Truth is also based on belief, and belief is based on faith.
Also, our world is made up of things that are unknown and theories to explain what is being observed that are yet to be proven to be true. In these situations there are no facts. What we believe to be true about these things is most certainly based on faith.
Living our lives according to our faith is what our journey of life must be about if we are to live life as our authentic selves. Our journey of life is made up of many shorter journeys, all of which are journeys of faith.
I will conclude this post with my final thoughts on why faith is important. Faith is important because for each of us, it uniquely defines and shapes what it means to live an authentic life. It defines the line between authentic and inauthentic living. Living by faith will provide the answers to Who am I?; What is my purpose?; and How shall I live?
Faith is also important because at the end of our lives others will see that our character became our destiny and our destiny will become our legacy.
Because faith is so important, it is critical to know that who or what you place your faith in is trustworthy. I encourage you therefore to think about who or what you have placed your faith in and why.