lots of people claim to believe
Jim
talk about moving whole mountains and about how to have our prayers answered
(see Mark 11:22-26).
But what is real faith in God?
What does it mean to have faith in God? Can anyone do it?
What about a faith that is mostly shaped by a person's own desires and
wishes? Is that really having faith in God? Or is that simply the common
human ability to believe in the things we make up along the way? After all,
paganism and all false religions come from some place within the human
heart, and not from the reality and revelation of God.
But I know that I believe!
Let's face it, everyone has the ability to believe, to exercise some kind of
faith. There is a common ability to believe in things we do not see or know
much about, a faith that anyone can have. But that is not the "saving faith"
talked about in the Bible. That's not what Noah had, or Abraham, or David,
or Joseph or Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus. The Bible talks about
believing what God Himself is saying -- and simply believing in what we want
to think or feel.
Biblical faith is more than a bland hope in or merely subjective expectation
of "something good" out there, or that "God is a nice person" or the silly
idea that any kind of belief/religion is just as valid as any other kind.
The faith that transforms sinners into children of God is itself a gift of
God. Saving faith enables us to see beyond mere flesh and blood, beyond the
physical realm.
Saving faith is much more than simply believing that there is a God. It's
believing God -- believing what God Himself has to say. By faith, we're
able to trust what God has said, what He's revealed to the world
supernaturally by His Holy Spirit, and by His own Son, Jesus Christ.
Instead of just believing in the supernatural, or merely believing that
there is a God, we actually believe God. It's real faith in God, and not
just a common faith that says that some kind of God must exist.
Don't get me wrong, we all start out with lots of our own ideas, things we
picked up along the way, and with a faith that is less than powerful. But
as God works in our lives, and as He communicates to us through the Gospel
of Jesus Christ, we have the opportunity to trust in Him, and to place our
faith in His truth.
What must I do to receive eternal life?
We need the kind of faith that issues forth from the very being of God
Himself, the confidence given to all who will listen and see Jesus Christ
for who He is and what He has to say. You and I do not start out knowing
how to get this kind of faith. We don't even know that there is such a
thing out there, or that we need it. But God helps us, if we're willing to
learn from Him. He even helps us when we're not willing to learn.
Why is Jesus so important, if I just want to believe in God?
Jesus is more than just a nice guy who lived a long time ago and said lots
of great things. He's greater than all human beings. He is the very Son of
God who came to be with us, to speak to us, and to die for us. While God
has used lots of people, such as prophets and apostles and preachers to
convey His message to the world, Jesus is unique in that He actually came
down from heaven to communicate and to accomplish God's will among us.
Jesus reveals to us the true and living God -- the God who really is, just
as He says in Matthew 11:27. But we won't come to faith in the Lord Jesus
unless the Father speaks to us and instructs us, as the Lord Jesus also says
in John 6:44,45. Everyone who will see and listen, who will trust God,
placing their faith in what He reveals about Himself in the Bible, will be
taught by the Holy Spirit everything we need to know about Jesus Christ, as
Jesus Himself promised the early disciples in John 16:6-15.
The truth about who God is and what He's really like can't be known except
as God chooses to make Himself known to each of us. This does not mean that
God is hiding somewhere. The Bible says that the heavens and all creation
reveals some aspects of God's glorious nature. And Paul writes in the New
Testament book of Romans that we therefore have no excuse for our ignorance.
Yet while the whole universe praises God and shows off His glory, it is
clearly evident that human beings are universally blind and deaf to
spiritual things -- except as God helps us along. We no longer have an
instinctively accurate understanding of the true and living God from within.
Thankfully, God has spoken and has revealed eternal truths about Himself
through the prophets and others who wrote the Scriptures that we now call
the Holy Bible. God continues to speak to the minds and hearts of mortal
men, women, and children. And whoever is willing to approach God with the
heart of a child, whoever is willing to listen to God's voice, will discover
what God has to say. In the pages of the Holy Bible all the truth we will
ever need is revealed for all generations to come.
Genuine faith leads us to the fountain of all wisdom, righteousness and
joy -- to life itself.
True faith in God brings not just a sliver of wisdom (enabling us to finally
begin thinking a few true thoughts about the incomprehensible God), but it
also overwhelms us with joy, and it inspires us ever onward. It even lifts
us up and carries us forward to godly obedience and to fresh hope each day.
Faith teaches us the truth about God's love for us, and it also trains us in
how to truly love Him back.
With Jesus as our ultimate teacher, our one true shepherd, our highest
example in all things, how can we ever fail? In Christ Jesus we cannot
fail, for we're lifted up ever higher each day to walk in the light of God's
love and wisdom. The reality of life in Christ surpasses all human
imaginations of what a "heavenly" life must be like. The reality of Christ
Jesus surpasses every human dream of fulfillment, accomplishment, peace and
happiness.
If it sounds otherworldly, it is. If it sounds too good to be true, it
remains true nonetheless.
Sure, Christians stumble and fall in many different ways. But then we were
never told to have faith in our own ability, our own wisdom, or in our own
human goodness. The call of God on every human heart is to look up. Look
up, look up into the face of One who knows us very well and yet still loves
us truly and forever.
Mere pity on the human race did not bring Jesus to this earth. Love did.
And love led the Lord Jesus all the way to the cross, and beyond. And God's
grace at work in all who believe in Jesus makes us free to simply love Him
back. We've finally found one who will never turn away those who hope in
Him. Because Jesus is willing to accept us, embrace us, and keep us, we
are saved.
An anchor for our faith.
Saving faith is based on nothing less than Jesus' love and righteousness.
The result of God's grace in Jesus Christ is that we can finally have real
faith, a solid hope, and eternal love for the God who made all things -- and
who also promises to make all things new.
On the night before Jesus died on the cross, He said this to the first
disciples: "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also
in Me. In My Father's house there is plenty of room for everyone; if it
were not so, I would've told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if
I go to make a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself; so
that where I am, there you may be also. ... I am the way, the truth, and the
life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (from John 14:1-6)
That's the message that Jesus gives to everyone willing to place their faith
in Him. He is the reason for the faith that we have. Without Jesus Christ
there would be no real reason to hope for God's mercy. But now we have a
reason and a real hope. Now we have a faith that remains strong even when
things around us are falling apart. It's a faith that saves us. It's a
faith that remains to eternal life.
Jim
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