November 21, 2021
You have a lot more Faith than you may understand
Have you heard the term people of faith, and they are meaning they are very religious, they may be people who are moral and spiritual people, they may be “Followers of Jesus Christ”, but I must tell you it has become clear to me that everyone has faith.
Looking up the word “Faith” you find definitions: trust, belief, confidence, conviction, credence, reliance, dependence, optimism, hopefulness, hope, expectation. I must share that you use faith in so many everyday things, one that jumps off the page is a yellow line that runs down the road of most streets and highways. I’ve been on those roads in a lot of places in this world and it matters not where the custom is to drive on the right side of that line or the left, it is a small yellow line you have put trust into keeping the guy coming at you at seventy, or eighty miles an hour to not cross and kill you and your family. If you did not trust, belief, have confidence, and have conviction, in that small yellow line, you would never get into a car.
Now the good news is most people honor that thin yellow line and stay on their side of it, but the truth is some do not, and it may be too many adult beverages, drugs, legal and illegal, texting, and just not paying attention.
But the Bible gives a much different definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” The yellow line you can see is not hoped for, the only hope is that the guys who come eighty do not cross it. So, it does not meet the requirement of Hebrews 11:1, in fact, this faith has the assurance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things not seen. That is a very different kind of faith, the yellow line you put faith in has no assurance that the other driver will not have a heart attack and come into your lane, or a tire blowout and cause him to hit you head-on. So maybe it is time to explore Hebrews 11:1 faith.
Chapter 11 in Hebrews is full of wonderful insights to people who walk by faith, and 11:6, is a great place to start; “And without faith, it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Faith in God's written word is not blind, no it is not even something one can obtain without first asking for the childlike faith to believe that He exists. In the book of James 1:6, “But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” One wonders if the abstinence of belief that God will do what He has promised is why the church often has no power. For years I struggled with believing God could love a person like me, I knew He knew all about me, and my friend Jack Archer showed me in the Scripture that even a rascal like me was loved by God.
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4) I have yet to meet a person that signs up for trials, and I am including myself. I’m like many people, I want an easy life of blessing and trials I’ve often seemed to do repeatedly to get the response of not my will but yours Father.
Once we look at our Lord's action as a man, it was always Father, not my will but yours. In the final hour before being taken to the Priest for a setup trial, Jesus asks, Father is there another way, but not my will but yours.
There is no yellow line in the faith talked about in Hebrews 11:1, no it is the kind of faith we find in 1 Peter 1:8-9, “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
If you have not experienced 1 Peter 1:8-9 and Hebrews 11:1, faith, and only have the yellow line faith, you may need to act on Romans 10:9-10, “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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