Wanted: Faith!

Due to traveling between Houston and Dallas every week and the demands of school, my blog activity has  suffered as of late!  Things are going well, though, and I hope to begin posting more regularly soon.

I ran across an excerpt from Luther’s “Preface to the Epistle to the Romans” this week in one of my classes.   This passage discusses what real faith looks like in the life of a Christian.  Mere profession of belief does not necessarily an experience of the heart, and yet we are always quick to point friends and family back to their moment of “belief” when they are looking for security of salvation.

While the initial moment is exciting and important, if the believer never matures, bears the fruits of the Spirit, or produces good works, it might be a grave sin on our part to give them assurance that they are saved.  Rather than needing to hear how to be a good Christian, they may need to hear the Gospel and to ask God to give them faith!

An excerpt from Luther’s “Preface” is below, and it can be read  in full here.  How does this compare to your faith?  How does this compare to how you explain faith to others?

Faith is not that human illusion and dream that some people think it is. When they hear and talk a lot about faith and yet see that no moral improvement and no good works result from it, they fall into error and say, “Faith is not enough. You must do works if you want to be virtuous and get to heaven.” The result is that, when they hear the Gospel, they stumble and make for themselves with their own powers a concept in their hearts which says, “I believe.” This concept they hold to be true faith. But since it is a human fabrication and thought and not an experience of the heart, it accomplishes nothing, and there follows no improvement.

Faith is a work of God in us, which changes us and brings us to birth anew from God (cf. John 1). It kills the old Adam, makes us completely different people in heart, mind, senses, and all our powers, and brings the Holy Spirit with it. What a living, creative, active powerful thing is faith! It is impossible that faith ever stop doing good. Faith doesn’t ask whether good works are to be done, but, before it is asked, it has done them. It is always active. Whoever doesn’t do such works is without faith; he gropes and searches about him for faith and good works but doesn’t know what faith or good works are. Even so, he chatters on with a great many words about faith and good works.

Faith is a living, unshakable confidence in God’s grace; it is so certain, that someone would die a thousand times for it. This kind of trust in and knowledge of God’s grace makes a person joyful, confident, and happy with regard to God and all creatures. This is what the Holy Spirit does by faith. Through faith, a person will do good to everyone without coercion, willingly and happily; he will serve everyone, suffer everything for the love and praise of God, who has shown him such grace. It is as impossible to separate works from faith as burning and shining from fire. Therefore be on guard against your own false ideas and against the chatterers who think they are clever enough to make judgments about faith and good works but who are in reality the biggest fools. Ask God to work faith in you; otherwise you will remain eternally without faith, no matter what you try to do or fabricate.

Thanks for reading!

Mickey

Confidence in the midst of doubts

I found a great statement in my reading for school this week.  It is by Anselm (a really old guy), and he is explaining his faith to a new Christian.  Anselm (through the character of his disciple) makes this statement:

“I come not for this purpose, to have you remove doubts from my faith, but to have you show me the reason for my confidence [in the Gospel].”

We often think that we must lay our/others’ doubts to rest before there can be belief in the Gospel, however faith is different than having all of our questions answered.  Faith is stepping forward – based on what we do know – and trust that God will/ has taken care of the rest.  It is normal for us to have doubts even after we are a Christian, and we need to make sure that we help our non-Christian friends understand that their doubts are ok as well!

If we knew all of the answers, faith in Christ would be the most logical decision in the universe.  As it is, we act on what we know, what the Spirit has revealed in our hearts, and we call it faith!

Thanks for reading!

Mickey

Faith or human nature?

When is our faith seen most clearly… when we suffer or when we are blessed?

Our human nature drives us to find relief when in pain, to search for solutions when we have a problem, so is our turning to God in times of need really the greatest indicator of our faith?

Luke 17 ¹¹On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. ¹² And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance ¹³ and lifted up their voices, saying, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. ¹⁴ When he saw them he said to them, Go and show your selves to the priests. And as they went they were cleansed. ¹⁵ Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; ¹⁶ and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷ Then Jesus answered, Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? ¹⁸ Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? ¹⁹ And he said to him, Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.

Many turn to God when things get rough, but He is often quickly forgotten once the crisis is handled. Perhaps, when measuring our faith, it would be better to examine our reliance on God when life is good, when we are reaping the benefits of His blessings – like the Samaritan who was healed.

It is important that we stay near to God both in time of trial and in times of blessing, for God is not just the God who meets needs (our daily bread), but He is also the God who prevents need (living water). He is not just a God who keeps us from an early grave (daily protection), but He also provides for us eternal life (eternal salvation)!

Our challenge is to trust God even when it feels like we are self-sufficient, when it seems like we have things under control. I pray that God would be our first option, not just our failsafe.

Let us have great faith, but let our faith be seen not just in how we turn to Him in sufferings. Let our faith be faith that constantly praises Him for our blessings and trusts in Him for our future!