Faith and Love Go Together

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

The disciples had prayed for a man’s son to be healed. He was a demoniac - seized by evil spirits to do things uncommon for human beings. Even though they prayed, and I assume fervently, there was no deliverance. So in Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 17, we read that the boy’s father brought him to Jesus. It resulted in the lad’s instantaneous, complete healing.

Perplexed, the disciples wanted to know why they weren’t successful to cast out the evil spirit. Jesus responded, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you” [17:20]. Jesus repeated that same truth in Matthew 21:21, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will . . . say to this mountain [the Mt. of Olives], ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done.”

It’s obvious that Jesus wasn’t telling the disciples that they could move the Mt. of Olives for the simple reason that it had a prophetic future. It had to remain where it was because Jesus would return to Jerusalem and stand on that very mountain. So what was His point? Mountain moving was a figure of speech in the Lord’s day meaning, to overcome great obstacles. 

When you “move mountains” — overcome great obstacles — that’s faith in action. And, yes, that faith is possible, but it must be tempered. Paul talked about “mountain moving” faith with the Christ followers in Corinth. He told them that if they exercised their faith, without love, it was good for nothing. It was a harsh rebuke, but it emphasized the importance of the Christ follower’s motives. “Mountain moving” faith is neither for show nor selfish pursuits, as it apparently was for the Corinthians.

Whatever your gifts and talents are, no matter how well you speak, regardless of your biblical knowledge, it’s love that validates your work for the Lord.

Loveless faith is useless faith.

If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:2c

I’m-All-In, Go-For-Broke, Put-Everything-On-The-Line Kind of Faith

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

I think every Christ follower, at some time or another, has snickered at something that the Apostle Peter said or did before he really thought things through. (It’s a “holy snicker,” of course, because we would never do such things!) But wait a minute! We have to admit that ol’ Pete provided us with some amazing displays of faith. Like the time he walked on water.

Read about it in Matthew 14. After feeding the 5,000, Jesus sent the disciples home while He went to a place of prayer. After nightfall, a storm arose and the disciples struggled at the oars [Mark 6:48]. At about 3:00 AM, Jesus took a stroll on the water. When they recognized it was Jesus, and not a ghost, Peter asked if he could come be with Him. Jesus responded, “Sure, if you want, we can take a stroll together” (my very loose translation of Matthew 14:29).

Peter went over the side of the ship and walked toward Jesus. That was an “I’m-All-In, Go-For-Broke, Put-Everything-On-The-Line” kind of faith moment. There wasn’t a back up plan here. No water wings. No back door. No safety net. It was just walk or sink! 

How was that possible? It was faith on Peter’s part, but only as he kept his eyes on Jesus. When you focus on Jesus, and not on your circumstances, you can do amazing things. 

“Yes, come,” Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus.   Matthew 14:29

Strong Convictions

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

How did you come by your convictions, by evidence or exhortation? Either way is fine; just be a Christ follower with firm, biblical convictions. In our culture, people vacillate because of conditions and circumstances. When situations change, their loyalty changes. We see that kind of thing from some politicians today.

I’m drawn to people with strong, stable, biblical convictions. I prefer that rather than wishy-washy convictions. The Scriptures are full of examples of what I’m talking about. Take Joseph; despite years of unfair treatment, he didn’t waver in his commitment to godly things. Daniel is another example; he lived by his righteous convictions in the idolatrous culture of Babylon. So did Sahdrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, his three Hebrew compatriots. 

Their convictions withstood the opinions and persuasive arguments against them. We can be like that too, as long as we are grounded in, and trust in, what God has said in the Bible. Confidence in the Word instills a courage to remain strong amid conflicts and circumstances. So whatever you do, get firmly rooted in the things of God. Strong convictions are sure to come. 

Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall. So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin. Romans 14:20-23

Use Your Faith

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

We read about faith. We talk about faith. We sing about faith. That’s great. But it doesn’t do any good unless we use it!

There is an element of action to faith; it’s acting, doing, moving - it shouldn’t be inoperative. And, it should always be growing! How does faith grow? By immersing yourself in the Word of God. Paul said, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" [Romans 10:17]. So, listen up! Or as Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" [Matthew 11:15]. 

Reading/hearing the Word of God will help our faith to grow, because throughout its pages, we see who God is and what He can do. Seeing who He is and how He interacts with His creation puts things in proper perspective. 

Another way our faith grows is through use. Some people treat faith like a fragile, glass object, but faith isn’t fragile. It’s tough. It’s resilient. And like a muscle, faith gets stronger through use. The more you use your muscles, the stronger they get. The same is true of faith.

For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one. Romans 12:3

Confident of His Presence

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

When I read the Psalms, the confidence that David had of the Lord’s presence being with him is obvious. He was like a CSI investigator; he saw the fingerprints of the Lord everywhere. Do you have that confidence? You can if take the time, or train your spiritual eyes, to look for His divine presence in your life. That evidence will be everywhere around you. 

You can’t have that kind of confidence if you only look for Him once or twice a year, say at Christmas or Easter. Neither will you be confident if your relationship with God is merely the observance of religious rituals. Seeing God’s presence with you isn’t a now-and-then kind of thing — it’s a lifestyle. 

It’s helpful to remember the words of Jesus in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” [Matthew 5:8]. The “pure in heart” will take captive unholy things; like impure thoughts, godless habits, unholy attitudes, and vain words. They confess and forsake sin and live in righteousness. That kind of lifestyle sharpens one’s awareness of God’s involvement — His presence — in their life, and then you begin to “see God” everywhere.

One of my Bible college professors challenged the class to take inventory of our daily activities in order to see God’s handiwork in our lives. Here are some of the guidelines as I remember them:

How did God guide my decision?

How did God answer my question?

How did God protect me in this situation?

How did God help my relationship?

(And jokingly) How did God help me pass the final exam?!

When you take inventory like this, you get to appreciate the Lord’s handiwork a second time, and it etches the reality of His presence, and love, deeper in your heart.

If you are a true Christ follower, the fingerprints of God’s love are all over your life. Examine them. Rehearse them. Remember them. It changes everything!

I have set the Lord always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.  Psalm 16:8

Faith Makes A Difference

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

The Bible clearly teaches that God is sovereign; He can do whatever He wants to do, whenever He wants to do it. He exercises His sovereignty when He does things without asking for our opinion or permission. He doesn’t work in a democracy. In other words, He doesn’t take a vote, He just does what He wants to do. Dr. Richard Strauss, my pastor for many years, had the best definition of sovereignty: “God is the highest and best, and does what He pleases in heaven and earth.”

That’s why I’m astounded that God primarily has chosen to do His work through people. Take Moses, for example. God didn’t need Moses to part the Red Sea. He could have, with the proverbial snap-of-the-finger, done it on His own, yet He commanded Moses to stretch out his rod over the sea. And what about Noah. God didn’t need Noah to build an ark. He created the universe. How hard would it have been for Him to create an ark? We see it throughout history, God has worked through human instruments to accomplish His purposes. 

When God acts, it’s by His sovereignty. When we act on the things of God, it’s faith. Faith and God’s sovereignty is a fascinating thing. Take healing, for example. Jesus didn’t heal everyone, but He did heal the ones who called out to Him. Like the blind man in Luke 18, who cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” [18:13]. Someone near him told him to be quiet, but he kept yelling. Jesus heard his cry for help, stopped, and the man was healed.

And what about miracles? Well, Jesus can do anything. Yet Matthew said that Jesus was limited in doing miracles in Nazareth because of the people’s unbelief. My dear friends, God responds to faith. Unbelief hinders the work of God. Faith unleashes it.

And [Jesus] did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith. Matthew 13:58

Make a Statement

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

What statement is your life making? The real testimony of your life is how you live it out, not what you say. There’s an old saying that bears this out: Actions speak louder than words. In other words, a person testifies to his or her beliefs and priorities by the way they live. 

That’s why Jesus said that to a world watching us, believers should be salt and light, two items which simply cannot be ignored. When salt is added to food, it improves the taste; when light enters a room, darkness is dispelled. The character, conduct, and conversation of a Christ follower should make a loud statement, one that demonstrates the need for Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit. 

We learn how to live a life that brings glory to God through the study of Scripture. As we read and meditate on it, we lay hold of principles and priorities for godly living. We learn lessons by means of biblical characters. Their stories teach us how they coped with the difficulties of life, how they discovered and learned from their mistakes, and how they interacted with God.

From their stories, and from the teaching of the Apostles, we learn that God wants us to be like Him. Or as the Apostle Paul put it, every Christ follower is destined to be conformed to the image of Jesus [Romans 8:29].

Make a statement with you life today and always. Set an example of godly living, one for others to follow. Then you can say as Paul did, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ” [1 Corinthians 11:1].

You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. Matthew 5:13-16