“For in the gospel the righteousness of
God is revealed —a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as
it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.1
, 2’” Romans 1:17
Why
is having faith important? To not have faith is to believe only what you can
see, taste and touch for yourself. To
not have faith is to be like ‘Doubting’ Thomas who wouldn’t believe Christ was
alive from the dead until he could touch where the nails had entered His hands
and where the spear had pierced His side (John 20:19-31). We are being asked as
Christians to believe in the unseen. The world says, “seeing is believing”; Christians say, “not seeing
we believe anyway”. It must seem strange to non-believers that
those who believe place their trust in something or someone they cannot sit
down and have a conversation with. Believing such a thing defies logic. Even
the fact that a man would willingly die for another man is illogical. Who would
do such a thing? It boggles the mind of believers and non-believers alike. Yet
we are not being asked to understand it; there’s nothing to figure out. We are
being asked to believe and trust in an unseen deity who exists in an unseen
spiritual realm.
Once we let go of our sensibilities and
consider the possibilities of such a thing actually being true, we open
ourselves up to God’s Spirit, who can expand our vision and ignite the ember
that resides within us all. Once we give
God the chance to change us from the inside out, we will never be the same.
Everything looks different; we begin to see things we never saw before. We see
things through spiritual eyes.
We are not just asked to belief but also
to rely on God. Believing is one thing, but allowing God to guide and direct
you is quite another. As we begin to know God better through reading and
hearing the word preached, we start to embark on a wonderful journey. We need
to be Christ centered in our thinking and our actions. It’s a growing process
that never ends. If we allow God to do His work in us it will be impossible to
remain the same as we once were.
God sees us as righteous through our
acceptance of the forgiveness He freely gives. Our righteousness was born out
of our faith to believe the unseen. A heavy price was paid for our redemption.
A price we are unable to pay. We must live our lives soberly, enjoying it, but
not abusing it. In the end our lives speak volumes to those all around us. Make
your life count for the kingdom. Until next time, walk with the King and be a
blessing!
1 “See,
the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright - but the righteous person
will live by his faithfulness.”
Habakkuk 2:4
2 “Now faith is being sure
of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1
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