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Plainly Speaking
with Karl J. Forehand
Our
Living Faith
(1 Peter 1:6-9)
by Karl J. Forehand
In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if
necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, that the proof of your faith, being more
precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be
found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus
Christ; and though you have not seen
Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you
greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the
salvation of your souls. (1 Peter
1:6-9)
Faith
may be one of the most used and misused word in our Christian
vocabulary. We often say “my faith,”
in reference to our religion. But,
religion has very little to do with faith.
Religion is our customs, rituals and traditions. Faith is something totally different. Hebrews 11:1 says:
Now faith is
the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen
Faith is
more that believing. It is “knowledge
of, assent to and confidence in” something.
It’s like when the little boy was trapped on his house which was
engulfed in flames. His dad beckoned
him to jump, but the boy could see only the smoke. “Just jumb – I’ll catch you,” his father called. The boy answered back, “But, I can’t see
you.” The father replied, “I can see
you and that is all that matters.”
Which part of that is faith?
Faith is when the boy jumps.
Most
churches and many individuals have an incorrect view of faith. Some think it is a recklessness. When a television preacher accumulates
mass amounts of debt and beg us to support him – that is not faith. When we carelessly misuse God money, it is
not faith. Others of us simply never
respond in faith to anything God says.
Faith is
very simply listening to God’s instructions and responding to them. Because God gives us God-sized tasks that
only can be done with His help; the obedience takes faith. Understand that faith is found in
obedience.
Characteristics
of our Living Faith
- Faith looks to the future
One of
the killers of faith is to look to the past.
We tend to follow patterns that we or others have established in our
lives. We focus on the people that
have let us down. We look at our past
failures, and even our successes, to determine our current course of
action. Religion and ritual are
largely concerned with the past. Some
of the past must be remembered; but much of it should be forgot.
We also
look at the present. If we would be
honest most of our actions are a “tyranny of the urgent” response to
situations we see in front of us. In
a business-like manner, we take inventory of our life and take action based
on what we see. But, remember faith
is not about what we see or observe.
Satan
likes to remind us of the past and distress (v. 6) us with the
present. Faith, however, looks to the
future.
Remember
Philippians 3:13-14 – “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold
of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward
to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize
of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Many
times God puts us in situations where there is no clear pattern. We can’t rely on the past. We may not even be able to analyze the
current situation appropriately. We
will often not be sure of the right approach to take. We must trust Him to guide us – we must
have faith in his direction and His power to deliver us through the
situation.
- Faith is purer when tested
Trials
can seem bigger than they are. To
make it worse, we often make some false assumptions when we experience
testing. We say “God must not love
me” or “God isn’t please with me” or “God must be punishing me” because of
this trial. In reality God only tests
those that are faithful.
I
sometimes allow my son to be tested.
We have him answer the phone or borrow something from the neighbors,
even though it make him a little nervous.
We often have him ride his bike to the store, even though we could
drive him in the car. Because I love
him, I often allow pain to enter his life, so that it will make him
stronger.
It is
reported that George Mueller said, “God delights to increase the faith of His
children…I say, and I say it deliberately—trials, difficulties and sometimes
defeat, are the very food of faith…We should take them out of His hands as
evidences of His love and care for us in developing more and more that faith
which He is seeking to strengthen in us.”
Philippians 4:12-13 says, “Beloved,
do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for
your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the
sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of
His glory, you may rejoice with exultation.”
May I suggest two alternatives:
-
If you can rejoice during trials, then it is possible to rejoice all the
time. If you can rejoice when you
things get tough; then when things get better, it will be that much easier to
rejoice.
-
If you don’t rejoice during trials, but let yourself get bitter and
grumpy; then often that bitterness bleeds over into the mountain top times
when you should be rejoicing.
The choice is yours. Do you understand that trials are designed
to purify your faith? Start
rejoicing.
- Faith
leads to deliverance
The ultimate example of deliverance is our salvation. Saved means deliverance. We are delivered, by our faith, into
eternal life. But also daily we are
delivered. How?
1.
God calls us to action
2.
We respond (obedience) in faith
3.
Trials come and we endure them by faith
4.
God delivers us most often through the trial to victory
Deliverance comes in God’s time.
Charles Spurgeon said of faith,
“I would recommend you either believe God up to
the hilt, or else not to believe at all. Believe this book of God, every
letter of it, or else reject it. There is no logical standing place between
the two. Be satisfied with nothing less than a faith that swims in the deeps
of divine revelation; a faith that paddles about the edge of the water is
poor faith at best. It is little better than a dry-land faith, and is not
good for much. “
The problem most of us have is the two
rowboats we find ourselves in. The
first is our old way of life. It has
many holes in it and has to be constantly bailed out. The other is our new life in Christ. We may have accepted Christ, but we often
keep one foot in the old rowboat.
We spend most of our effort trying to keep the old rowboat afloat, instead
of stepping completely into the new one which will never fail. We know that old dog won’t hunt, but for
some reason we hang onto it.
Faith is all or nothing. We must look to the future, realizing that
we will have trials and expecting God to deliver us. Get both feet in the boat!
Karl J. Forehand, 2001
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