Faith

People have faith in a lot of things. They can have faith in money, and they may achieve much. They can have faith in their abilities and do great things. People can also have faith in illusion and lies and still somehow function in life. As Emerson said, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” People can also have faith in faith and manipulate their world to their ends, and people can have faith in positive thinking and think themselves well. Yes, people can also have faith in pleasure, for it diverts them from their emptiness. Some people even have faith in evil, for it gives them temporary power.

Some people have great faith in evolution even though it is based on a logical absurdity. Nothing can create something. Nothing can create something in a complex, perfect balance through mutations over long periods of time. These people’s God is chance, and by chance, everything in creation, although very complex, came together perfectly. It takes a lot of faith to believe in this absurdity. However, it is logical to state that a self-existent God created, and there is an amazing amount of evidence for it. (See Josh McDowell's book, Evidence that Demands a Verdict)

The right kind of faith is to have faith in God, in who He is, what He has said, and the direction He leads. He is the object of true faith. In the Bible, the author of Hebrews, in chapter 11, lists many people who had faith in God and acted on that faith. Do you believe God is good, holy, just, and loving? If you do, your life will be different, and you will act in faith.

Some people are mad at God because God didn’t give them what they wanted when they expected it. They don’t trust God and his wisdom and providence. They have things against God. So does Satan. Satan wants to be his own God. How about you?

Where is your faith placed? Do you have a saving faith or just a believing faith? Some people can believe some things but never act on them. Faith puts our confidence in something or someone. The demons believe about God, but they have not placed their confidence in God’s saving grace. Their fate is sealed, but every human being can respond to God in saving faith through God’s grace. (2 Peter 3:9)

What is saving faith, and what does it save us from? Saving faith saves us from the enslavement and consequences that go along with this enslavement of sin in this life and in hell in eternity. Hell is coming, and so is heaven. Jesus warned about the horrors of hell more often than he spoke of heaven. Hell will be a place with the absence of God’s presence and thus the absence of good. There will be no friends in hell. If you love sin, you will not like heaven. If you don’t truly appreciate God, you will not be comfortable worshipping in heaven. If you don’t love truth, then you will be extremely uncomfortable in heaven. Don’t worry, heaven will not be an endless church service; it will be a whole lot better and a dynamic, growing experience. Where do you want to go?

When God says something in His Word and by his spirit, do you believe and act upon what he has said? That is faith. Are you living a life of faith, or are you just waiting around until you die or until Jesus comes again? Being a disciple of Jesus is becoming like Jesus and doing what he has instructed us to do. Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). Are you going as Jesus instructed? If you are a follower of Jesus you will be a “fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19)

Are we here just for a good time, or are we on mission with Jesus and walking as his apprentice in faith? If we truly love Jesus, we will spend time with him—quality time. If we love Jesus, we will make much room in our life for God and learn to develop a focused life on him and develop a life of prayer and action. We will take the initiative.

Is our life making a difference in eternity? Is it making a difference in lives of people, and are you becoming more like Jesus every day, and are many sons and daughters going to rejoice in heaven that we influenced their lives to become Christians and to grow as disciples of our Lord God and Savior?

Place your faith in the truth and thus in Jesus. Live in the truth and honor God. Why would we place our faith in what only lasts for a while when eternity is waiting? Why place our faith in what is false and, in the end, empty? Why take the easy way when so much is at stake, when fulfillment and peace are only found in Jesus? What have you invested in eternity with Jesus? How will your life be different in eternity because you walked in faith? These are all questions it would be wise to face with integrity.

Have faith, but the right kind of faith in the right person. Where is your faith placed? Would you be willing to die or suffer for what you truly have faith in? It may not be that important if you are not willing to suffer for it. Men have suffered admirably for freedom and what they believe is temporal or political truth. The early disciples gave their lives for Jesus, except the apostle John, who lived to be elderly.

Do you truly have saving faith that you have acted upon? For instance, you can say you believe that a 220-ton plane can fly and take you where you want to go, but you don’t act in faith until you get on it and the plane takes off and flies. You can also believe the parachute will function if you jump out of a plane, but you act in faith when you put on the parachute and jump.

Saving faith believes that Jesus will deliver you from the power and eternal consequences of sin. You must be willing to turn from sin and place your faith in Jesus. You must also be willing to be a public follower of Christ, beginning with baptism. Baptism is telling other disciples and the world and the devil that you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, and it comes after conversion.

It is a rational faith, but we don’t know everything; but there is plenty that we know and has been revealed, especially in the Bible. It is more than enough to act in faith. By God’s grace, we can act in faith and receive Jesus Christ as our Savior, and then God converts us from the inside out. John the Apostle says, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right (or power) to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12). He gives the power to enter his kingdom. “Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Receive Jesus Christ as your Savior today and then go on to live in his kingdom in faith. Your life will be found best and most complete in Him, and you will spend eternity in heaven. In this life with Jesus you will know peace and joy, strength, love, and contentment as you walk with him.