Faith BasicsSample

Yesterday, we talked about the first Faith Basic in Hebrews 6 - repentance from acts that lead to death. Any thought, word, or action that is contrary to the will of God is an act that leads to death. As followers of Jesus, we want to live a life that is perfectly pleasing to God, but it’s impossible to please God by merely living rightly. The secret sauce to the Christian life is not flawless living; it is faith.

Here’s the challenge - in our spiritual growth and development, most Christians get a little confused about faith.

Sometimes we start to see faith as a force or power. We think that if we can just learn how to tap into faith - if we can learn the right things about God, the Bible, church, and stuff - we can leverage faith to do what we cannot do on our own. You know, “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.”

Sometimes we think of faith as an emotional pick-me-up…a pep talk that helps us refocus on God. That’s not a bad thing -- sometimes we need a pick-me-up -- BUT that is not biblical faith.

Other times we slip into thinking of faith like a birthday wish. If we just close our eyes tight enough and blow out all of the Christian candles, what we want to happen will happen. It just isn’t so.

Here is a solid definition of faith: Faith is confidence that God is who He says He is, and that He will do all He has promised to do.

Biblical faith is focused not on what we want, but on who God is. The goal is not to shape our circumstances to our liking, it is to trust Jesus to do what He said He would do. Hebrews 4 teaches us that Jesus has promised to represent us before the throne of God. Because you have made Jesus your Lord, He is representing you before God the Father. If you hold firmly to the faith that Jesus is doing that, you will receive mercy and find grace to deal with every circumstance that is not to your liking.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I again confess that Jesus is my Lord and Savior. Please help me to fix my faith in Him so that I may receive your mercy and find your grace to deal with every circumstance that comes my way. Amen.