Sometimes I feel like living today presents more challenges than at any other time in history, but even a cursory look through history tells me that is simply not the case. There has always been disease, poverty, violence, greed, unfaithfulness, ignorance, selfishness and perversion of what is good. I need not go on, right? The good news is that there has also been love, hope, faith, sacrifice, heroism, and goodness, because man was created in the image of his Creator. And because there has been God—always God.
We haven’t always known Him, though. Even today, many have no idea of who He really is, and some even doubt that He really is. That might be one reason, if not the only reason, that those things mentioned at the beginning still exist.
We who are believers know about original sin, the fall of man, the salvation provided on the Cross of Jesus, and our own responsibility to believe and, therefore, act on the knowledge provided. “Believing and acting on” is called Faith.
A foundational scripture:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whosoever should believe on Him should have everlasting life.”
That point in time, when God gave His son, was the turning point of all history. It changed everything. Before Jesus arrived on the scene, mankind’s view of God was limited, even though God revealed Himself and His nature through the Names He shared. Even back then, God’s purposes and plans, and His goodness and might, were seen by men and women who believed what He said and acted on it.
But when Jesus came, he brought Grace and Truth which provides the way for every one of us to live and walk with God in the same manner and power of those Greats we have read about for years. And even more.
Faith is simply believing and acting on God’s Words. It really is that simple, and it still brings the life of God to those of us who choose to believe.
Remember when Jesus said his words are Spirit and Life? His words are received by our spirit, often before they are understood in our minds. And they are life to those that find them.
When we accept the truth that Jesus gifts His Righteousness to those who believe who he is and accept what he has done for us, then living by faith is both our privilege and calling.
And it is a blessing.
“And he did not do many mighty things there [in his home town] because of their unbelief,” (Matthew 13:58).
FAY ROWE 