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Friday: Further Thought – Having Faith — 12 Comments

1. I know some folk who are compulsive hoarders. One of them picks up every screw, nut or bolt he sees and takes it home because it might be useful one day. You ought to see his spare room! I realised that I was getting a bit like that myself. The other day I cleaned out my bottom drawer where I had thrown electrical cables because I never knew when I would need one. I found I had ten IEC utility cables and 8 figure-8 cables. Just about every electrical device comes with one of these and when the devices wore out or burned out, I have kept the cable just in case. I had a cleanup. I gave some of them to my grandsons who figured they had a use for them and the rest went into the bin.

   If your faith is the sort of thing that you hoard, then it is not faith. I hear a lot of comments about building your faith by reading the Bible, praying, letting the Holy Spirit work in your life. What do we expect to happen? Is our faith drawer full of unused faith. Has our faith resulted in some sort of mystical relationship with God others cannot see? Does a drawer of faith count towards our salvation?

   Faith is not self-serving; it is like our muscles, it needs exercise.

   I repeat James’s admonition:

   Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?
   I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, “Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I’ll handle the works department.”
   Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.
   Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That’s just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands? James 2:14-20 MSG

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   • Thanks, Maurice. Sometimes I need to remind myself that prayer is not so much an “activity” as a relationship.

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   • Thanks, Maurice. We need to remember that faith *works.* And if it doesn’t *work* (i.e. do the same kind of work Christ did), then it isn’t saving faith. Does that about summarize your thoughts?

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     • Thank you Inge. You said it with such precision; Faith works. The proof and evidence of my faith is my works. It captures the brilliancy of the Apostle Paul’s thought processes. When he wrote those revoloutionary words- “The just shall live by faith.”
       To the Pauline mind genuine faith in God’s grace actuates, mobilizes and empowers the individual to do good.
       It appears that James was speaking to babes in the faith or persons of lower thought processes when he went to lenghts to explain to them that faith without works is dead. To the extent that Luther felt it was an “Epistle of Straw”
       My beloved Seventh-day Adventist brethren and sisters I cannot presently think of any topic more relevant and pertinent to our understanding as the topic of righteousness by faith at this time.

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   • Maurice I just re-read your contribution. I confess that I am a bit concerned. If you think like I do; there is a difference in the conceptulization of the statement – “Faith and Works” and “Faith that Works”
     The former phrase (“Faith and Works”) captures the concept of my personal addition; that I must personally add something to the task and for which I am accountable. The second phrase (Faith that Works) captures the concept of complete dependence; “for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” Philippians 2:13 NIV.
     This is not a matter of semantics; this actually touches our core understanding of the Gospel. It captures the truthfulness of St Paul’s monumental statement that helped trigger the Reformation – ” The just shall live by faith.” Romans 1:17 (full stop).
     This understanding is crucial to our Christian experience. It affects every area of our lives, particularly as Seventh-Day Adventist who seek to obey the Ten Commandments. I pray that we all get that understanding clear.

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2. Faith is not blind belief detached from reason, nor is it merely an emotional response or outburst without foundation. Each of us, regardless of background, expresses faith in one way or another because everyone places his or her faith in something or someone. For example, a Moslem puts his faith in the Koran and in Mohammed, a humanist puts his faith in himself, and a religious person in his own good works. Unfortunately, none of the above can save, as in each case the object of faith is wrong. Our faith can only be as good as the object in which we place our faith. Faith, being an affirmative response to God’s will and Word, must therefore be based on God’s Word. The Bible teaches that we do not need to see something before we believe, since faith is the acceptance of what God is saying. Jesus said in John 20:29, “… blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”

   Those who are truly seeking truth and rational evidence should not conclude that faith is opposed to reason, because Christian faith is grounded in the Word of God and supported by God’s actions in human history. At the same time, faith is not based only on what can be seen with human eyes. Hebrews 11:1 declares, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,” and 2 Corinthians 5:7 reminds believers that “we walk by faith, not by sight.” Therefore, faith is not irrational, but it goes beyond mere human reasoning because there are realities that the human mind cannot fully comprehend.

   For this reason, faith is both rational and beyond rationality: rational because it is founded on God’s revealed truth, and beyond rational because it trusts in what cannot merely be seen or fully understood. Biblical faith rests upon the trustworthy character of God, the promises of God, and God’s revelation of Himself in history through the person and work of Jesus Christ. As Romans 10:17 teaches, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Therefore, we must not base our faith only on visible things or human understanding, but on the eternal and unchanging Word of God.

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   • Amen – Truth so clearly and simply stated – thank you, Motanya!

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3. The hoarding part in Maurice’s comment above really caught my attention; but what stands out more is Maurice’s elaboration of faith, and how dangerous it is to store (hoard) faith as a sentimental asset. Faith is a verb, active and has velocity, and must not be confined, and that’s why we are to “have it” and not keep it, because it must act. I came across this article, “The Meaning of Amen and the Hebrew Word for Faith” by Avital Snow (https://firmisrael.org/learn/meaning-of-amen-and-hebrew-word-faith/)); here is an excerpt:

   …..The Hebrew word emunah (אמונה, pronounced “eh-moo-nah”) is understood in English to mean “faith” or “belief”. But it is often also translated as “faithfulness.” And yet, it describes much more than just believing a statement about God. It reveals a life of full reliance upon Him. Let’s find out about the meaning of Amen. Emunah is faith that results in faithfulness, implying action. It shouldn’t be a total surprise then that the word amen shares the root with Emunah. Amen means “so be it” or “may it be so,” and shares the root also with eman, meaning “to confirm”. Add to that haemeen, which means “to trust” or “confide in”…..

   This means so much: that faith is not beautiful speech, but an action revealing our trust, commitment, belief, devotion, dependence, and obedience to God. These are active applications, not just phrases – though still invisible, as they process within the heart – they pop out in our behaviors and when we show up.

   This week, the study may have unveiled a deeper thought to us (for me, for sure) about ‘having faith’. Let’s not hoard this, but instead, it is time to actively apply it. Amen.

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4. Sometimes the battle against evil is inside oneself, sometimes within the house. Wherever the crucial battle is, the best thing to do is to rely on Jesus, because He fought the fiercest battle of all time: He overcame self, the enemy, and the entire world, delivering Himself for us all, a (basically) “lost cause”. What a love!

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5. Revelation 14:12 does not say “Have the faith of Jesus,” It says “…keep the faith of Jesus.” In other words, Jesus has and had “His own faith,” and we have our very own “Measure of faith,” to “Keep” exercising in relation to “What Jesus has already done and is doing In our behalf.”

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6. After reading the posts today, I thought, are we hoarders by grasping all the faith we can get faith as a free gift? I believe so as long as we don’t store faith as descending us into a presumptuous good feeling. I can rightfully believe you hoard software, to name a few, cobal, basic, DOS, Windows OS, apple OS, code editors, compilers, interpreters, debuggers, and the like. And don’t you hoard mathematical equations? Confession is good for the soul. Keep up the good work we agape love you. Hebrews 10:21-25, with emphasis on verse 24.

   Faith Is the Victory. How do you receive faith? I receive it as a gift from God for the asking. How did I ask? In prayerful communication with God yes face to face. Exodus 33:11.
   I am not saying I am a prophet like Moses. I am saying that as I talk to God, I often picture Jesus in my mind. That is face to face with Christ my Saviour, face to face shall I behold. Morris Vendon once said, most likely, many times to many different audiences. “Put yourself in one of the disciple’s places, sitting and talking with Jesus.” Now that is as close to face to face as of yet.

   Back to Faith Is the Victory. Many, many years ago I had the opportunity to put together a couple of computers for home and business. I purchased a case, power supply, motherboard, plugged in a video board, to the memory board, floppy disk controller, hooked up the floppy disk, hooked up the black and white monitor, plugged in the A.C. cords and turned on the switch, loaded DOS and basic then Microsoft 1.0, then victory. What a good feeling. Faith is not a feeling; yet faith produces a good feeling, as long as you have the love of God as your foundation of faith.

   Yes! Faith is the victory. Glorious victory that overcomes the world. Now, from the Clear Word.

   Num. 6.24 The Lord bless you(and all who post today) and keep you; Num. 6:25 the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. Num. 6:26 the Lord look joyfully and lovingly on you and give you peace.

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7. Drawing close to God in helpless state is important but it is essential to establish that relationship in times of peace. Our relationship with God in times of trouble is strengthened by our relationship with Him in times of peace.

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