We hear a lot about “faith” in our day, even from the secular media. Our current President has launched “faith-based initiatives.” Just about anyone with a devout religious affiliation is numbered among the “people of faith.” Of course that faith may be in Buddha or Allah, but it is still extolled as a virtue. Since God tells us that faith is indispensable, we need a clear, scriptural understanding of it.
In our recent study of 1 Corinthians 13, we noted that faith is recognized along with love (and hope) as the only three enduring virtues (13:13). Faith is very closely related to love. Paul said in Gal. 5:6 that “faith worketh by love.” Faith is the root while love is the fruit. If we do not trust God, we cannot love Him. If we do not believe that He loves us, we will have very weak notions of love for Him. “We love him because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
One of the great Old Testament truths, quoted no less than three times in the New Testament is the prophet Habakkuk's great pronouncement, “Now the just shall live by his faith.” Genuine faith is not static. It is operative in the life a true believer.
It is possible to please God, but only if we exercise faith. Faith is the only “currency” that is “legal tender” at the bank of Heaven. God is not looking for great intelligence or great talents, but simple child-like faith, a faith that is neither fanatical nor idle. All of our conquests for God are faith conquests. Likewise all our defeats are faith lapses.
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Bob Vradenburgh is the senior pastor of Friendship Baptist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. He has spent 40 years in full-time Christian service: the first 20 years as a missionary and the past 20 years in the pastorate. Bob’s passion is the expository preaching of God’s Word,...