12/14/2018
Do you exercise your faith in fullness, or is God required to constantly remind you of its importance? Do you place what you do for Him ahead of who He is in you? If so then perhaps your holiness and power have followed suit. Are you wanting to reinvigorate the miracle working faith that we see in the apostles, then stoke the fire of your faith.
“He said to them, "Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you."”
Matthew 17:20 ESV
A little faith goes a long way it fuels our relationship with God, and transports our prayers from wherever we are to the throne of God; it softens our heart and makes us humble in the eyes of the world, and before our God. So often we seek the power of God, the healing, rescue, eternal life, and all of those things that we lack the ability to do for ourselves, but rather than seeking them in faith, we search for them like items in a grocery store that we feel can be purchased, or exchanged for our works.
Have you ever thought that you could make yourself more righteous by the things you do? Is your relationship with God based on barter? We serve meals a couple of days at the soup kitchen, so certainly that is worth God’s curing the cold we are suffering with today. Maybe if I work real hard cleaning up the church yard I can earn God’s help on that big project I have due at work. Is this the motivation for your good deeds? If so you are taking your faith, which is the belief in things unseen, and are attempting to transform it into something tangible that you can touch and feel. This flies in the face of grace.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV
Our good works are not a payments to God, but an offering extended to Him out of love. It is much like our tithes and offerings... God doesn’t need our money and other things we have, He created the entire universe, so do we actually think that He needs our material wealth? No, but He desires us to honor Him by giving because it is a lesson in faith and character... His character.
Works and giving are things we do out of love, not because they are required of us. I raised my children to have empathy for those less fortunate, and as I was doing so I would do such things as making them apologize when they had hurt another child’s feelings, or explain to me why they had walked away from someone in need. Have you ever made a child apologize for a wrongdoing, then had them reluctantly look at the person they had wronged, and in a curt or sharp voice, say “Sorry!” How did that make you feel as a parent? Did it satisfy you and make you proud of your child? No, it lacked sincerity, and wasn’t done from the heart... it didn’t come as an acknowledgement of their wrongdoing, but instead was offered simply to fulfill what you had told them to do. This is how God views works done out of our obligation to the letter of the law... He doesn’t want us to clothe the naked because He told us to, but out of love for our fellow man.
“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.'
And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'”
Matthew 25:35-36, 40 ESV
The same is true of our faith. We can’t demonstrate our faith by doing things out of obligation, we do things because our faith leads us to do them out of love. Faith is like a home, works are like a house. We can build a house, but inhabiting it in love makes it a home. Works without faith are just houses, but when our faith leads us to show our love in what we do then those houses have become homes.
“Our Lord Jesus continually sought to cultivate in His disciples the habit of faith as the condition for their seeing the power and glory of God.” - Andrew Murray
So what is the state of your faith? Are you trying to mechanically serve God, or have you come to realize the true nature of faith... which is an unconditional belief in God’s love? Do you give to Him, and serve His children humbly because of your faith and love... or simply because the Bible says so? Are you expecting to receive the power and miracle of the Lord because you worked the equation, or because your love brought you to the solution?
Prayer:
Father, thank you for leading me to the real understanding of faith. Thank you Holy Father for teaching me to give and do the other things out of love, and because they are the right things to do as I reflect your character and goodness in my life. Thank you for showing me that you have no true need for what I can give you unless it is wrapped in love. Thank you for letting me see you as you have unwrapped my gifts, thrown away the contents, and admired the wrapping. You are the focus of my faith and the source of my love. You hear my prayers and look for the wrapper they come in. Help me Merciful God to wrap all my prayers in love, and offer them as manifestations of your will. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who gives to me His love out of grace. Great are you Lord for leading me in my faith, and teaching me to see your character and love in it. Praised be your name, and all glory and honor be yours forevermore.
Rich Forbes