Tag: Faith

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What You Do Every Day

“You bless people,” I used to tell our son throughout his growing-up years. Matthew often responded with a quizzical smile, not rejecting what I said, yet wondering how this could be. He was an unassuming, do-the-right-thing kind of kid, and I could see genuine warmth in people’s smiles as they engaged him. Of course, he brought me pleasure, and in blessing others, even more so. As the Bible says, “The father of godly children has cause for joy.”1 Years later and with two little blessings of his own, Matthew reflected back on our earlier conversations, now with the benefit of his own fatherly perspective: “I finally understand what you meant,” he said.

Did you know our faith actually brings glory to God? Of Abraham the patriarch, Paul wrote, “he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God.”2 The apostle also explained that through Jesus—and all who trust in Him—God’s wisdom is displayed not only before the citizenry of this world, but also “to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.”3 And when we accept in faith that all of God’s promises are fulfilled in Christ, “our ‘Amen’ … ascends to God for his glory.”4 In Christ and through our faith in Him, God is glorified before the entirety of His creation—both that which we see and that which we don’t. Our faith shouts His glory.

How can this possibly be? To everything that exists, faith proclaims that God alone is worthy of our trust—“Even if everyone else is a liar, God is true.”5 Though Satan points to our troubles in plain view and tempts us to doubt God’s power and love, faith looks at the One we cannot see and declares His honor and praise. In fact, faith is in itself “proof” of the existence of what we do not see.6 When we help others “by the strength which God supplies,” then God is “glorified through Jesus Christ,”7 and when we “let [our] light shine before others, they … see [our] good deeds, and glorify [our] Father in heaven.8 Even in our “confession of the gospel of Christ,” and perhaps especially so, others “will glorify God for [our] obedience.”9

What do we do every day? We bring God glory. How humbling this honor! One day we’ll finally understand what this means; for now, we accept it in faith, and in doing so, we glorify God yet again.

To this end also we pray … that our God will … fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in [us], and [us] in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. — 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 NASB

1 Proverbs 23:24 NLT
2 Romans 4:20 NASB
3 Ephesians 3:11-12 NASB
4 2 Corinthians 1:18 NLT
5 Romans 3:4 NLT
6 Hebrews 11:1 NASB
7 1 Peter 4:11 NASB
8 Matthew 5:16 NIV
9 2 Corinthians 9:13 NASB

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Comfort Zone Confines

The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.—Acts 8:29-31

Have you ever felt spontaneously called to escape the confines of your comfort zone and engage another for the sake of the Kingdom? How did it feel? Did you ever “just go with it” and follow the Spirit’s lead, as Philip did? Sometimes yes; sometimes no? True confession: these God-calling moments often intimidate me, sneaking up and catching me unprepared and flat-footed. And to be completely honest, my sin nature would rather bask privately in the acceptance of God than to risk publicly my own rejection for His name. Yet Biblical faith does not stop at believing God’s promises; it heeds God’s call and obeys His commands. Real faith acts. As Jesus said to His disciples, “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”1 Faith leads to obedience, and blessing follows doing.

Then how do we turn from our natural inclinations of reluctance and doubt and set a new paradigm of “Yes, Lord”? Or better yet, how might our feeling of Kingdom obligation mature into our desire for Kingdom opportunity? A few things come to mind. Know your identity, and thrive in the freedom of God’s love: “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”2 Recognize you’ve been divinely gifted to serve: “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”3 Remember people are asking, seeking and knocking4 to know the life-giving gospel we carry inside—“How can I [understand] unless someone explains it to me?”5 And I think above all is this: “in humility value others above yourselves,”6 as did Jesus, who “humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!”7 For when we live and serve in true humility, rejection from others loses its power over us. We are free to love and to serve them in “the obedience that comes from faith.”8 And who knows, maybe we too will be invited to come up and sit with them for a while. Wouldn’t that be great?

Father, You have shown me Your love through countless people and in innumerable ways. Grace and strengthen me, that my faith also would overflow abundantly in joyful obedience to You. In Christ I pray. Amen.

1 John 13:17
2 1 John 3:1
3 1 Peter 4:10
4 Matthew 7:7
5 Acts 8:31
6 Philippians 2:3
7 Philippians 2:8
8 Romans 1:5

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Stronger Faith

I’ve worked out pretty much my entire adult life, more strenuously in some seasons along the way and less so in others. Yet in all these years, I’ve not added a single muscle to my body; I’ve grown some mass at times and watched it atrophy a bit at others, but the muscles I have today are the ones that accompanied me at birth. In a way, faith is like this, too.

Often times, we underestimate our faith, and lament not having more of it. Yet, faith is a gift from God, and as we saw in last week’s post, “The Gift behind the Gift,” He assigns each one of us a measure of it.1 This way we can neither despair nor boast over the size of our faith, for God himself has apportioned it, and we can be certain our portion of faith is sufficient. Jesus said even faith the size of a mustard seed moves God to move mountains for us.2 And of the mustard seed He also observed, “Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants …”3 Just as one tiny seed contains everything it needs to eventually become a sturdy tree, so we likewise grow by strengthening the faith we’ve already been assigned.

Then how do we grow in the assurance of what we hope for and become ever more convinced of what we do not see?4 How do we increasingly entrust ourselves to the character and promises of God? More faith was precisely what Jesus’ disciples wanted for themselves, so they implored of Him, “Increase our faith!”5 Did Jesus enlarge their allotment? Did He give them seconds at the dinner table of grace? No, He told them to use what they already had. “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed,” He answered, “you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.”6 Use what you have. Put it to work. “Live by faith.”7 Then just as muscle size increases when continually challenged—even when pushed to the point of pain—so too will our faith grow when we exercise it. In some future posts, we will look at the means by which we exercise and strengthen our faith, but for now, we rest and strive in this: God has graced us with faith—it is enough, for it will grow.

We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. 2 Thessalonians 1:3.

Father, thank You for the faith You have given me. Lead me through today’s challenges and opportunities, and find me faithful to You and a blessing to others. My faith will become stronger—I know this, for You are good. In Christ I pray. Amen.

1 Romans 12:3
2 Matthew 17:19-20
3 Matthew 13:32
4 Hebrews 11:1
5 Luke 17:5
6 Luke 17:6
7 Hebrews 2:4