Daily Devotional
Is Faith Intangible?
Text: Hebrews 11:1
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Message
To be intangible is to be impossible to touch, to describe exactly, or to give an exact value. It is not to have physical presence; be difficult or impossible to define or understand; be vague, abstract, and incorporeal.
The intangibles in a person are your “special sauce”. Examples include: personality, first impressions, etiquette, charisma, love, trustworthiness, faith, and energy.
The intangible qualities of a relationship we all must prioritize and focus on include; building trust, understanding, and open communication with our partner. We are to work on being patient, respectful, charismatic, and supportive. These qualities will make our relationship stronger and more fulfilling not only with men but also with God. It is for these reasons that intangibles are often the deciding factor in who sits at the head desk in many organizations.
To answer our question requires we know what the nature of an intangible thing is and how the intangible things work in the physical, especially when used in relation to assets.
Intangible assets are assets that lack a tangible presence but hold significant value for businesses. These assets are often intellectual or legal rights and include items such as patents, copyrights, trademarks, goodwill, and proprietary knowledge.
The next enquiry in answer to our question is to take a position on whether a spiritual concept or principle such as faith that bothers on spirituality can be said to be intangible?
A quick answer is that spirituality is an inherent component of being human, and it is therefore subject to being intangible and multifaceted. This is because faith is an intangible treasured spiritual principle and an asset.
As a treasured intangible spiritual principle, faith though an object that we cannot grasp in the physically realm, we nevertheless in the realm of the spirit have knowledge of it, hold to it and its object and its special techniques have been passed down to us in His word and from our father’s of faith as contained in the scripture and even so to our contemporary world.
The Bible left us not in doubt when and where it says, “So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).
As an asset, It is by faith that believers in Christ Jesus are given power to become the sons of God (John 1:12). Hebrews 11:1 went further to say,
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Thus, “The just shall live by faith.”
Faith like other intangibles have costs and benefits that one cannot or chooses not to put a price on in an explicit fashion. A good example is the encounter that Joseph had with Portiphars wife. Joseph would not compromise his faith in his God given dream. He said to the woman, “There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”(Genesis 39:9). This is in prove that the spiritually minded faith is the most significant intangible. It motivates us to spend money, take chances, travel great distances, and do all kinds of things that we would not do in the absence of faith.
The lives of men and women as Rahab, Gideon, Deborah, Ruth, King David, Daniel, Shadrach, Mesach and Abedenego, Mary, Stephen and Paul, to mention a few shows that a being with faith is to be unaffected by physical harm and move through solid objects of dangers and pains untouched and unscratched. When spirits appear in the physical world, they will be intangible.
Because faith already got it the Lord Jesus said, “…for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you” (Matthew 17:20).
Implicit in Matthew 17:20 is the need to draw a distinction and the line between faith and other intangible traits inherent or learnt by man. While being not tangible as a trait in man or faith may mean being incapable of a physical touch, incorporeal, immaterial, and impalpable, it is not so with faith. Faith is knowing and perceiving by a sense of touch by the inert, according to the power that works in us. Believers touch reality of the unseen with their enlightened eyes of their understanding and strengthen inner man and power that helps them know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints are (Ephesians 1:18-21)!
Are you still in doubt?
Now tell me why you believed things as patents, copyright, franchises, goodwill, trademarks, trade names, reputation, R&D, know-how, organizational capital, as well as any form of digital wares and
goods such as downloadable music, mobile apps or virtual goods used in virtual economies are proposed and readily acceptable to be examples of intangible goods by you but when it comes to faith you are in doubt or total disbelieve and mosttimes call it foolishness?
Let me remind you that faith, like the soul that is also intangible, can be hurt.The soul is defined as an intangible essence of an individual. A soul is immaterial, and, thus, more of an abstract idea. For example, consider how someone may say in response to a slight, “that hurt my soul” and be careful.
God bless you.