Faith often begins when disaster strikes. Because of a
threatening situation, the human heart is desperate for deliverance and calls
out to the God they know exists, a God that they see is the author of creation
and the only One who can do anything about the troubles they are experiencing.
A friend was in a building struck by a huge tornado. She
said everyone was praying, even praying aloud. However, when the storm was over
and life returned to a semblence of normal, nothing had changed in their
spiritual lives. Most of them returned to a life without faith.
Sometimes the Bible describes faith like an outcry in
trouble. Consider this portion of a psalm:
“I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live. The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the Lord: ‘O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!’” (Psalm 116:1–4)
The psalmist was in trouble and great distress. He cried
out to God to rescue him, yet this was not the actions of one with ‘temporary’
faith — because he asked for more than physical deliverance. His prayer asked also
that God would save his soul.
Some would call the first kind of faith ‘temporary faith’
because it came during a felt need for God but left when that need was
satisfied. It was partial faith, not faith concerning the salvation from sin
that is the main focus of biblical faith. It was temporary in that it didn’t
last.
Biblical faith has an eternal component because it is
about eternal life. It also comes with a declaration. That is, those with faith
share with others a testimony of what God has done for them:
“And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1 John 5:11–12)
Biblical faith is not about faith that God will rescue me
when I am in trouble, even though that is part of it. Rather, it is faith that
God, through Christ, has forgiven my sin and given me the life of His Son.
Because of Jesus, I am changed!
Actually, who could not change when the Son of God comes
into their hearts, their very being! And since He is eternal, that new life is
also eternal, an amazing gift from God that changes everything.
As proclaimed in the Old Testament and by Jesus, the two
most important commands are that we love God with all our hearts, minds, souls
and strength, and we love one another. Without Jesus, this does not happen.
Temporary faith is insufficient because that focus of self-preservation is
always there. So is that immature, ‘I want what I want when I want it.’ We can
dress it up, but it remains the driving force of life.
Saving faith has a new objective. It takes my eyes off me
and turns my heart upward and outward. I can love God love others because of
new life in me. Even though the ‘old me’ sometimes fights that, because God is
God, He gives victory over that sinfulness and changes my focus from here and
now into eternal hope.
“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven . . . .” (Colossians 1:3–5)
^^^^^^^
Jesus, I love You because You first loved me and gave
Yourself for me. I love others, because You have taken care of my love needs
and set me free from selfish concerns that rob me of the joy of serving You.
When I slip back into that old life, You pick me up and turn my heart again
toward eternal matters. You are the most amazing God and I thank You for saving
me!
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