Many people find it difficult to define what faith really is, especially when they read Bible verses like the one where Jesus said: ‘All things are possible to those who believe.’ Some people assume this refers to mind over matter, as in if I lose a leg and believe hard enough I can grow a new one. But I believe faith is having confidence in the ultimate goodness of God towards us and aligning ourselves with that.
CS Lewis described it this way: Two men had to cross a dangerous bridge. The first convinced himself that it would bear them, and called this conviction faith. The second said: ‘Whether it breaks or holds, whether I die here or somewhere else, I am equally in God’s good hands.’ And the bridge did break and they were both killed: and the second man’s faith was not disappointed and the first man’s was.