Living By Faith

Chuckle:  Doctor to the patient:  "Your recovery was a miracle!"  Patient:  "Praise God! Now I don't have to pay you." 

 

Quote:  "To believe only possibilities, is not faith, but mere philosophy."  --Sir Thomas Brown

 

LIVING BY FAITH

 

    "What is faith?  It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot see. God gave his approval to people in days of old because of their faith". . . So, you see it is impossible to please God without faith.  . ." (Hebrews 11:1-2, 6 NLT).

 

The word "faith" can have several different shades of meaning, depending upon its usage.  But lets focus on the definition found in our Hebrews passage.  The Holy Spirit inspired writer of Hebrews focuses on the kind of faith exhibited by righteous people down through the ages, some of whom are identified later in Hebrews 11.

 

First, faith is being absolutely certain about the person (reality) of God and who He is.   By faith, we know God is real even though He is unseen by our human eyes.  We know He is real by observing His creation, by the ways He revealed Himself to the prophets of old, by His revelation through His Son, Jesus Christ, and, finally, through the totality of His written Word as illuminated by the Holy Spirit.  But the greatest indication of who God is comes from our own individual experience with Him working in our lives. 

 

The starting point of faith is belief that God is who He says He is -- that He is real and that He loves us and desires to interact with us.  Faith is also the unwavering conviction that the unseen but anticipated mighty acts of God will bring more indescribable surprises than our finite imaginations can ever see.  "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Corinthians 2:9 NLT).   

 

Second:  Faith is being confident that God will fulfill all His promises.  Faith, at this level, believes God will make good on His promises even though we may not see their complete fulfillment in our lifetimes.  This is how we demonstrate the kind of faith God desires of us.  Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, and "All these faithful ones died without receiving what God had promised them, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed the promises of God" (Hebrews 11:13 NLT).  Even though they died without receiving all that God had promised them, they never wavered in their anticipation of a better place -- their heavenly home and future rewards.

 

The kind of faith by which God wants us to live inevitably results in total commitment and faithful obedience to our Lord.  "Foolish man! When will you ever learn that faith that does not result in good deeds is useless . . . So you see, we are made right with God by what we do, not by faith alone"  (James 2:20,24 NLT).  In summary; Living by faith is believing that God is real, believing that He will make good on His promises, and obeying His commands to serve Him by serving others.  Faith is proven by our actions.

 

Love, Jerry & Dotse