Living by faith

Paul tells the Roman church (see Romans 15:4 NLT)..."we wait patiently for God's promise to be fulfilled."

 A follower of Christ, is a believer--one who has repented of sin and looks to Christ's death, burial, resurrection, and soon return--as the basis for purity, holiness, and right standing with God.  This is a Christian who must learn to live by faith.

 Faith's Definition:
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  For by it the elders obtained a good report.  Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. (Hebrews 11:1-3 KJV).


Note:

  • Faith sees things that are not yet present
  • What faith sees is 'the substance' --the un-seen things that ultimately will create a 'seen' thing

Paul's direction--We wait patiently:
  • My life as a believer means--there are things yet coming to me that, at present, are unseen
  • But, just because they are 'unseen' doesn't mean:
    • They don't exist (they exist in 'the substance' the unseen realm--the faith realm)
    • As a believer, by definition--I don't have to have everything in the 'seen' realm--many things exist in the 'unseen realm'
  • I wait patiently--in faith

Application:

  • Many things in my life --because of the 'unseen realm' remain a mystery--an ambiguity--I'm okay with that
  • A mystery is not a contradiction--is not an error---it is a mystery
  • I don't need a clear cut definitive on EVERYTHING in my spiritual journey
  • I am not aimlessly meandering through life--I have a clear 'unseen' destination
  • I am destined
    • for perfection
    • for complete union with Christ
    • for eternal presence and eternal joy in my Father's house
    • and while those things are 'unseen'  and full of mystery---I live by faith--so I wait patiently for God's promises for Peter to be fulfilled!
Now for the GREAT news:

 Paul further explains in the Romans passage:
" May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other--each with the attitude of Christ Jesus toward the other. Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  (Romans 15:5-6 NLT)


  • This patient waiting I need is NOT manufactured by myself!  
  • This is God's gift to me---WOW!  I need to surrender to this, and receive this--and live patiently  UNTIL the unseen becomes the seen
  • And--further---this results in living in harmony with others!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Learning to hate your sin

Image
   John 5:13-15 (NLT) 13 The man didn’t know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd. 14 But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.” 15 Then the man went and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had healed him.   Lord give me grace, power, and effort to maintain a resilience against sin.  Sin is ALWAYS a dark path. It ALWAYS pays wages.  The wage of sin is death.  Sin will always hurt, always destroy, always wound—you, relationships, stuff, goals, etc.  It is a killer.  It is a wound-er.  It is a consumer of all that is healthy, strong, good, and perfect. Learn to hate sin. Learn to fear sin. Learn to run as fast as you can away from sin. Search deeply for hidden sin. Be disgusted with your sin.  Repent, repent, repent daily for your sin. Be afraid of your sin. Be petrified of your sin. Be worried ab...
Read more

Meditation

Image
Meditation I realize as we move on with this series that there are two things that need some clarification.  We already looked at the idea of silence and quietness—this week we will look at meditation.  Let’s begin by giving you the descriptions of the differences between these two disciplines.  Although from an outsider’s position there may be little or subtle differences, I want to help you process the vast difference between these—-and the immense benefit from both of these disciplines: Silence/ Quietness: Here the idea is shutting out your active mind —leaving lots of space for two things.  First, space to give your mind a rest, relaxing your mind.  It is a stopping of your mind from racing around solving all the problems of the world.  Second, giving space to hear from God! It is laying aside your agenda.  It is putting aside the debris, hurriedness, and hectic pace to relax in God’s presence.  Often music can help...
Read more

God is after you! And... for a different reason than you think!

Have you ever been pursued by a suitor—a lover—someone who is very interested in you? Was it pleasant to be liked?  Was it pleasant to be wanted?  Well, yeah—for sure.  Who doesn’t want to be loved? Who doesn’t want to be sought after?  Who doesn’t want to be appreciated? I do!  I am sure you do too! Did you know that is actually the message of Christmas—and the actual ‘story’ of the Bible?  It’s a story about God pursuing humanity. Too often when we think of God, or church, or the Bible—we think of behaving ourselves enough to get God’s attention.  Or, we think of trying hard to impress God—so that God would appreciate the hard work we are doing down here and give us His nod. Well, actually that is not true.  That is not the message of the Bible—nor the core message of Christmas.  It is actually the total opposite.  The core message of Christmas is not our chasing God—it is God chasing us! God is so in love with ...
Read more