Faith... Is it yours? Is it borrowed, rented, used? Did you inherit it from a family member?
Yep...just plain 'ole faith. Faith can be kind of hard and messy all at the same time.
I think we take faith for granted. We think it’s easy to believe and easy to keep believing, but it’s not... not for most of us.
It’s the faith. It’s what we believe about the things that matter most. Take that faith away and we have nothing left! If we believe it, if we really, truly, absolutely believe it, then yes, it’s the faith, and friends we’d best put on our marching shoes and go wherever we are needed to put our faith to work.
The writer of Hebrews 11 would surely say Amen to that. If what we believe makes any difference, then it has to change the way we live. That’s what the phrase “by faith” (repeated over and over again in this chapter) is all about.
Sometimes we don’t take faith as seriously as we should. We assume something that the Bible never takes for granted. True faith is a precious and precarious commodity.
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.There are those who have faith and those who don’t. And if you don’t have faith, you cannot please God. Think about that for a minute!
We are justified by faith (Romans 5:1,9). We are reconciled to God (Romans 5:10). We have peace with God (Ephesians 2:17-18). We have a standing of righteousness before God, because of Christ's life and death. (1 Corinthians 1:30). We have become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 3:9).
But we are not yet perfect (Philippians 3:12)!
We still sin. We fall short of God's perfect standard every day. We glory in the truth that... in spite of this sin, God counts us as righteous for Christ's sake, but we long to be free not only from the guilt of sin - which we are in Christ right now -but also from the presence and the power of sin.
This is where we live!
Saved, secure in Christ, but sinful and "groaning" as we wait for the completion of our salvation, as Romans 8:23 says: "We ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body."
In Galatians 5:4-6 (MSG) we read ... "I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love."
Faith expressed in love! A love that is based -- according to Scripture -- on what's inside us! And, what's inside??? Faith!
The difficulties of faith don't come from the lack of feeling, or action, -- but from the lack of divine knowledge. The knowledge of who God is and the depth of His love. Your faith isn't so much about you, about what you have or haven't done ... but rather about God, about what God has done and how much he has loved us.
The worst part about faltering faith ... is that you are missing out on how much God loves and trusts you! The formula of faith should be, "if you will...God will..." --reaching -- seeking -- is proof of passion... God won't give you anything that you haven't pursued.
Maybe it's time to pursue God ... faithfully...I'm just sayin!
Kelly
