FAITH is the most basic distinction between one person and another. The entire world stands on one side or the other of the line of faith. There are only two different types of people – not rich and poor, not black and white, not learned and unlearned, not Jew and Greek, not male and female. None of these distinctions really exists in Christ. God sees only believer and unbeliever. “He who believes … will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16).
Faith is the new order. Unbelief is the old and dying order. Faith is the dividing line which runs right through mankind. Having faith, or having no faith, are the only alternatives for our approach to life.
Fear sees just what man sees. Faith sees what God sees, and acts upon it. Faith creates action, and people of action, like Caleb and Joshua. Unbelief keeps us tied down in a spiritual wilderness – as Israel was for so many years. Fear and doubt magnify the difficulties, making us think people cannot be won for Christ and that the world is too strong. Without faith, we fear failure and mockery. With faith, people can be won, and so the joy of expectation grips us instead. By faith, we move into God's fullness.
1 comment:
Faith is the 'old' order also, the 'order" that was, that is, and that will be until the Judge comes on the Last day. But it is not 'naked' faith. It is faith which always has the One Object, namely the Christ of the revealed will of God. So it is not MY faith that saves me and guides me, but the Holy Spirit who instills that faith, who preserves it to the end, and shows me that Christ Jesus, crucified and risen, is The Order of all time.
Faith is never alone, but is always directed to some object, whether self, some man-made system, or 'faith for faith's sake' (today's mantra) or the true faith which is the God-given trust in the Trinity, in Jesus, the Son as the God-man, Savior from sin.
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