Years ago, when I first began the Christian journey, like most people, I understood faith as “belief”. I believe that there is a God, therefore I have faith. Very soon I came to understand that that is not enough. In fact, belief alone can be irrelevant. For example, I may believe that there is intelligent life somewhere out there in space. But, so what? That has nothing to do with how I live my life every day. It’s irrelevant. Just so, many people believe that there is a God, but that belief does not shape their lives in any meaningful way. So, even belief in God can be irrelevant. That’s why I came to know that faith as “belief” is not enough.

I began to understand that, while it may start with belief, faith must grow to include trust, reliance, dependence, the willingness to bet your l…