Our culture is infatuated with faith. An 80s pop song told us, “You just gotta have faith,” and Disney constantly preaches, “Just believe.” College sports teams hang “Believe” banners over their locker room doors. But what does that mean exactly? Believe in what? in whom? and why? After all, faith in the wrong person can leave you deeply disappointed. Good faith needs the right something to hold on to, the right someone to trust in.

That’s why the Christian faith is about trusting Christ. When it comes to being right with God, we don’t trust in ourselves, our hearts, our moral resumes, our ethical stats, or our best efforts to be good. No, we trust in Jesus. We have faith in Jesus. We rely upon the perfect life of Jesus, the sacrificial death of Jesus, and the glorious resurrection of Jesus. We believe the only way we can escape the danger of our sins and the only way we can see God’s glorious face is through faith specifically in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 

This is why Paul got specific when speaking about faith. He wrote to the Romans, “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe” (3:22). Catch that? Faith in Jesus.

Everyone has faith in something. Everyone relies on someone to give them hope. The next time someone says they “have faith” or are a person “of faith,” ask them a simple question—Faith in what? Then tell them about whom your faith is in.