By Russ Atmore
It goes without
saying that the Christian life is lived by faith, in faith and through
faith. Faith is the diamond through which our lives are viewed by God
and men. Faith can be little or faith can be great.
Matthew 17: 19,20
“Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, ”Why couldn’t we
drive the it (demon) out?” he replied, “because you have so little
faith.”
Matthew 8: 8,10
“The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under
my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed…” When
Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I
tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great
faith.”
The
emphasis here is not on the quantity of faith, but rather on the
quality. All believers have faith. Faith is the gift of God. (Ephesians
2: 8). It’s what you do with faith that counts. We are to live
our lives by faith. Faith has many products or fruits: forgiveness of
our sins, (Acts 10: 43); justification, (Acts 13: 39); freedom from
judgment, (John 3:18); salvation, (Mark 16: 16); sanctification, (Acts
15: 9); freedom from spiritual death, (John 11: 25,26); spiritual light,
(John 12: 36,46); spiritual life, (John 12: 31); eternal life, (John
3:15,16); adoption, (John 1: 12); access to God, (Eph. 3: 12);
preservation by God, (Heb. 10:26-29); inheritance, (Acts 26:18); peace
and rest, (Rom. 5: 1).
Both
Old and New Testaments have numerous examples of those who lived by
faith. Abel and others all lived by faith (Hebrews 11). Your Christian
life is to be an expression of faithful living. In everything that we do
we must be faithful and of faith. There is only one thing that is
required of a servant, and it is simply this: that he or she be found
faithful.
1
Cor. 16: 13,14
“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be
strong; do everything in love.”
Everything we do is
to be by faith. In order to please God we must have faith.
Heb.11: 6 “And
without faith it is impossible to please God…”
Be encouraged to live
faithfully.
|
