How My Faith Makes Me Different

My son wrote a blog yesterday with this title, "How My Faith Makes Me Different".   You should pop on over to his blog and read it... and I say that, not because he's my son and I'm proud of him (although I am), but rather because it's a question that deserves an an answer. How does your faith make you different than the people around you who don't have faith in God?
I looked up the word faith in a couple of dictionaries, and the Cambridge Dictionary says this:
Faith is a high degree of trust or confidence in something or someone.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary has this definition:
allegiance to duty or a person; belief and trust in and loyalty to God; firm belief in something for which there is no proof; complete trust.
The Bible says this:
Hebrews 11:1  "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."

These definitions have a common thread - it is trust or confidence in someone - and that is God. We cannot see Him, but we can trust Him, because of what He has said in His Word. There is lots of proof that the Bible is true - lots of historical documents that support the events in the Bible. But I trust Him because of what He has done in my life. He has answered my prayers. He has kept His promises to me. I have experienced joy and peace that could only have come from Him.

So, I have faith, absolute faith, in the One who made me, who redeemed me, who loves me. But how does that make me different? It makes me different because I am not depending on myself, my own strength, my own wisdom, my own patience, my own love. I fail when I try to have those things on my own. But when I trust Him, He gives me all that and more. When I take myself out of the center of my world, and put God in the center - His rightful place - then not only do I experience those blessings, but I am able to bless those around me. My faith makes me different because it helps me to be the person I was created to be - a child of God. It doesn't take away the trials, the sad times, the frustrating times, the bad times... but it gives me everything I need to overcome them, to persevere, to have joy and victory in the midst of them.

Most of all, my faith makes me different, because it is the only way I have can please God.
Hebrews 11 is all about faith, and verse 6 says, "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."
Over and over in the Bible it talks about men and women of faith, and how their faith pleased God. My faith in God pleases Him, and He blesses me. And that makes me different.