Noteworthy Faith

Romans 1:8 "First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world."

Faith is a word that gets thrown around a lot. The definition of the word is: "conviction of the truth of anything, belief; in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man's relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervour born of faith and joined with it."

A conviction of the truth that the whole world was talking about. That is incredible. When you think about it, people all over the world are convicted of certain "truths". Ask pretty much anyone, and you will find they are convicted of the truth of, say, gravity, or the roundness of the earth. However, no one is talking about that conviction, that faith. There was something about the Roman church's faith that made it noteworthy for the whole world.

I believe the noteworthiness is found in the last part of the definition: "holy fervour born of faith and joined with it." This faith in God and Christ is living, powerful. It exists, but it also builds. This holy fervour is what causes us to put our faith into action. This holy fervour is the drive behind our good works. And it is these good works that cause others to see our faith, and praise God.

Does my faith have a holy fervour behind it? Is my faith something people are talking about? In order to talk about it, they first have to see it. Is my faith even visible?