“Faith is just believing what God’s Word says is true.”
That refrain comes to my heart often, and it is simply a line of a chorus I learned somewhere—probably in leading children in songs. Amazing what a simple chorus can do for the soul!
But, speaking of faith—the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen—it is what one must have to please God. (Hebs. 11:1-6) Abraham believed God for a seed and son, though he was well past child-bearing age, as was his wife, Sarah, and God gave them their promised son! Then, Abraham believed, when told years later to offer his only begotten son on an altar, that God would raise him from the dead—and God provided a ram in the place of Isaac, because by faith Abraham pleased God.
Faith, through which one is saved by grace, is the crux of Christianity. All the beliefs, creeds, dogmas and doctrines that theologians labor to explain have, as their core, the matter of faith. Charles Spurgeon said, “A little faith will bring your soul to heaven; a great faith will bring heaven to your soul.” Little wonder, then, the apostles pleaded: “Lord, increase our faith.”
Faith like that of a small boy who, when flying a kite on a windy day, was asked by a passer-by—an older man—just what he was doing. The lad replied, “I’m flying my kite.” Looking heavenward, the man said, “I don’t see any kite; all I see is clouds. How do you know you are flying a kite?” The boy replied, “I can feel the tug on the string.”
Unbelievers may question, may even scoff at, the simplicity of hanging one’s hope for life after death simply on “faith.” Early Christians, one has said, did not say, “Look what the world has come to;” they said, “Look what has come to the world!” It was a matter of believing then seeing, rather than seeing then believing.
Faith has always cut against the grain of the world. The world says “show me and I’ll believe;” faith replies, “Believe and I will show you.”
The world says, “You are not good enough to make it to heaven.” Faith says, “For by grace are you saved by faith.” (Eph. 2:8)
The Devil says, “You’ve believed a fairy tale; there’s nothing to this religion thing.” Faith says, “In hope of eternal life that God, who cannot lie, promised before the world began.” (Titus 1:2)
You tell yourself, “I can’t hold on; I am too weak.” Faith says, “Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.” (I Peter 1:5)
Demons say, “Salvation is not that easy; there’s more to it than that.” Faith says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” (Acts 16:31)
A cultist says, “If you don’t believe what Dr. So and So says, you’re on your way to Hell.” Faith says, “Let God be true and every man a liar.” (Romans 3:4)
The religionist says, “Salvation is in our church and anyone outside of it perishes eternally.” Faith says, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
The atheist says, “There’s nothing past the grave; it’s all just a manufactured lie.” Faith says, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” (Gen. 1:1)
The college professor says, “The Bible is beautiful literature, but you do not have to take it literally.” Faith says, “For all flesh is as grass, and the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away, but the Word of the Lord endureth forever.” (I Peter 1:24,25)
The false teacher says, “We are all trying to get to the same place; the main thing is to just be sincere.” Faith says, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Provs. 14:12)
Of the power of faith, it has been said, “If radio’s slim finger can pluck a melody from night, and toss it over a continent or sea; if the petaled white notes of a violin are blown across a mountain or a city’s din; if songs, like crimson roses, are called from thin blue air—why should mortals wonder if God hears prayer?” (Ethel Fuller) Faith believes. Faithful pray!
Another wise person: “There is no unbelief in he who plants a seed beneath the sod and waits to see it push away the clod; He trusts in God!”
“Once it was a blessing, now it is the Lord; once it was a feeling, now it is His Word; Once His gifts I wanted, now the Giver own; once I sought for healing, now Himself alone.”
A.B. Simpson continued: “Once was painful trying, now ‘tis perfect trust; once a half salvation, now the uttermost.” And, he concludes: “Once I hoped in Jesus, now I know He’s mine; Once my lamps were dying, now they brightly shine. Once for death I waited, now His coming hale; And my hopes are anchored, safe within the vail.”
And the difference, in a word, is faith. Is that your anchor?
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Gal.2:20)
YOU and GOD 