I've been thinking about something for a while now. That something is this: Faith, Hope, Love; what do they mean? I mean, what do they REALLY mean? How does God define these things for us? How do we apply them to our own lives? It's not easy sometimes, that's for sure. But I believe God has given us the tools to study.
You might be wondering, why do we have to study faith, hope, and love? Don't they come naturally?
Well...yes. Sort of. But we're on a journey - a journey of faith. A journey with God. He is leading us. He is teaching us. And elsewhere in the Bible there are blueprints for the Christian life laid out for us. I think that studying these three things is actually quite important. Why? Because these three things are so...with us. All the time.
We have faith that something will come about. We hope for things. We love so often and so deeply. These three things are there from birth to death, ever-present in our lives.
Sometimes, hope fails. Sometimes, faith stumbles. Sometimes, love falters. But they never truly leave us alone. Not completely. Not indefinitely.
I think I'll ramble on too long about this for it to be one post alone. I'll tackle each one separately.
I'm beginning with Faith.
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1 Corinthians 13:13 - "So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
There are two kinds of Faith.
One, our faith in God.
Second, God's faith. God's faithfulness, specifically toward us. Let's start with God's faithfulness, because it's so much better. :)
God's Faith
Psalm 117 - "Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!"
Psalm 146:5-7 - "Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry."
a) God's faith endures forever.
Ephesians 2:8-9 - "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."
b) God gives us our faith.
Psalm 57:10 - "For your steadfast love is great to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds." (see also Psalm 108:4)
c) God's faithfulness is far reaching, immeasurable.
Deuteronomy 32:4 - "The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he."
d) God's faithfulness is not stained by iniquity, by imperfection; God's faithfulness is a perfect faithfulness.
Romans 3:3-4 - "What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written,
"That you may be justified in your words,
and prevail when you are judged."
e) God is true though everyone else is a liar. God is faithful though everyone else is not.
1 Corinthians 1:9 - "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."
f) God is faithful to call us to salvation through Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 10:13 - "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."
g) God is faithful to protect us from temptation beyond our power to endure.
God is faithful to us even when it seems that He is not. He is faithful even when our faith is failing. Think about this, and let it set your mind to spinning: He was faithful to us even before He created us! He was faithful to us even before we knew Him! Even before we knew ourselves. He has been, is, and always will be faithful. It is His way.
Our Faith
We know we're supposed to have faith. Sometimes, though, our weakness - worry - gets in the way. We worry that maybe God isn't so big and strong after all. We worry that maybe this time He forgot about His promises. Or maybe we even worry that God is in control - but He isn't going to do what we want Him to do.
What is faith, anyway?
Here's the definition from Merriam-Webster:
1 a: allegiance to duty or a person : loyalty b (1): fidelity to one's promises (2): sincerity of intentions2 a (1): belief and trust in and loyalty to God (2): belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion b (1): firm belief in something for which there is no proof (2): complete trust3: something that is believed especially with strong conviction ; especially : a system of religious beliefs
So, it's allegiance, loyalty, belief, trust...
Here's the definition from the Bible:
Hebrews 11:1 - "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."
You know, in all of my musings about faith, I've come to a single conclusion: faith is almost, almost stubbornness. There's no proof that this thing will happen - no reason, really, to believe in it; but faith believes anyway. In spite of the lack of sufficient evidence.
If faith were a woman, it would be a fiery-eyed woman indeed, her head tossed upward in defiance, her arms thrown back, her shoulders squared...daring you to try and change her mind. Faith is an assurance, a conviction.
D. L. Moody once said, "Faith takes God without any ifs."
So, now let's go to the word of God to see how Faith applies to us.
Matthew 8:5-13 - The Faith of a Centurion
"When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him,
"Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly."
And he said to him, "I will come and heal him."
But the centurion replied, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it."
When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, "Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
And to the centurion Jesus said, "Go; let it be done for you as you have believed." And the servant was healed at that very moment."
The Centurion had faith that Jesus could command even physical disease.
Matthew 15:21-28 - The Faith of a Canaanite Woman
"And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.
And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon."
But he did not answer her a word.
And his disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away, for she is crying out after us." He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me."
And he answered, "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."
She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly."
The Canaanite woman had faith that Jesus was the Master, the Lord.
Mark 5:25-34 - "And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment.
For she said, "If I touch even his garments, I will be made well."
And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.
And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, "Who touched my garments?"
And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’"
And he looked around to see who had done it.
But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.
And he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease."
This woman had faith that Jesus was powerful enough that she had only to touch His garment to be healed - not that she had faith in the garment itself, but that she had faith in Jesus' ultimate power.
These three stories show people in moments of faith - and God blessed them. They are eternal witnesses to the power of God for salvation.
The book of Romans is basically a book about faith (and the difference between grace and works). I would suggest that you read it, no matter how many times you've read it before. It's worth another look.
Especially consider these passages:
Romans 1:16-17 - "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith.""
The Bible is God's message to us - we read it and take faith from it. The accounts of other people - who suffered, who triumphed, who died, who lived - give us faith in God, for what He has promised will come to fruition - it always has. There is no reason to doubt.
a) We are called to live by faith. This means taking all things into account - our thoughts, our actions, our speech - and only thinking, doing, and saying things that are set upon faith in God. Faith is foundational for Christians. God often does not tell us the answers. More often than not He "waits to see what we'll do".
Romans 3:21-28 - "But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it - the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law."
b) Our faith is not ours to claim. It is given us by God, as a gift. We receive God's gift by the faith that He also gave us as a gift. We therefore cannot boast.
Romans 4:13-25 - "For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.
That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring - not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations" - in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, "So shall your offspring be." He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was "counted to him as righteousness." But the words "it was counted to him" were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification."
c) The promise depends on faith. Look at the example set before us - Abraham, old and "as good as dead", was fully convinced that God would fulfill His promises. This is what faith is - being fully convinced.
Romans 5:1-2 - "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God."
d) Our faith brings peace with God through Jesus. Our faith brings rejoicing.
(Whew! Lots of reading. Good job making it this far. :) There's more, though, sorry. )
1 Corinthians 2:3-5 - "And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God."
e) We should remember that we are examples to others, saved and unsaved alike. We must not show ourselves capable outside of God. We must fully show others that the power of God is the only thing that can save them - not the wisdom of men, or their own strength - the power of God alone. To live by faith means to live in an example of faith as well. Show your faith, that God may be glorified.
2 Corinthians 5:6-8 - "So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord."
f) We walk by faith, not by sight. We follow the One Who is trustworthy, but we've never seen Him - yet we cling to the conviction of what is not seen.
Galatians 2:15-21 - "We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose."
g) We live by faith in the Son of God, the one who justifies us by faith in Him. We are not justified through what we do, but only through Who we believe. "For I know whom I have believed..."
Read Galatians 3. The whole chapter, yes. I'm serious. Read it. Now.
Philippians 3:8-11 - "Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith - that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead."
2 Timothy 4:7 - "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."
I will put Hebrews 10:19-12:2 in a different post. It needs full attention. Look for it right after this post.
1 John 5:4 - "For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith."
This is what we cling to with hope and joy! h) Our faith has overcome the world! Through Jesus Christ we have the victory! Amen!
Here is a decree from our Lord and Saviour:
Revelation 13:10 - "If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints."
Run the race with endurance. Have faith. Augustine wrote, "Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe."
The finish line will come. We are not in an eternal race - but we will receive an eternal prize. Believe it. Stubbornly if you have to.
Don't forget:
"Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading." - Oswald Chambers
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By swallowing evil words unsaid, no one has ever harmed his stomach. ~Winston Churchill
Smart guy.