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Day 2 – Faith is not an end in itself

Faith is not an end in itself because faith goes above itself to touch the hand of God...

REFLECTIONS:

Read Ephesians 2:8-9 and Hebrews 12:1-2 and take a moment to answer the following questions:

➤ According to these texts, from where does faith come from?

➤ What is the foundation of faith?

CONTENT:

In the text in Ephesians 2:8-9, Paul reminds us that faith doesn’t come from us. We cannot create faith; it is a gift from God. This means that all of our efforts change nothing to the response of God in our circumstances. In reality, God doesn’t reply to prayer, but He replies to a prayer of faith! It is often this which upsets us in faith because we sometimes have the impression that God will answer people who are not “worthy” or who do not live up to our standards of holiness. And this even if sometimes our own prayers don’t reach the goal, even though of course we believe that we deserve it. Let us remember that God freely gives and that He gives His grace justly to unworthy people. We will see later that it is important however to develop a life of integrity before God.

Believing that we have faith is an error… Jesus said to His disciples:

“I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain… Nothing would be impossible.” (cf. Matthew 17:20). Today if somebody came to cast doubt on your faith or to tell you that you don’t have faith, you would probably be shocked, hurt, annoyed… And yet, it’s exactly what Jesus said to His disciples on several occasions by referring to them as “men of little faith”. Jesus doesn’t confront the disciples according to their faults, for example, Judas who stole money, but rather according to their unbelief. This reveals His priority for our lives as disciples. Our faith is fundamental in His eyes because it is linked to our knowledge of God. To start with, we need to recognise our lack of faith and stop kidding ourselves about our so-called faith!

Faith is not a method, and it has nothing to do with procedures or tricks. So, if our expectations are founded on the strength of our faith, we will rapidly sink when the results do not occur the way we hoped they would. It is for this reason that Jesus teaches that faith is not an end in itself, but a relationship between us and Him. He is the author of faith and brings it to perfection. For example, when Peter was in the boat, he didn’t persuade himself that he too could walk on water, and he didn’t hold a meeting with the other disciples to discuss the possible outcomes of walking on water. No, he just addressed himself to Jesus, he believed and approached Him (cf. Matthew 14:28).

Without being aware of it, we can start to talk so much about faith that we forget the objective, that is, faith in God that comes from Him. There exists a natural faith in all of us. This is what allows us to live; for example, I sit on a chair with the faith that it will be able to hold my weight. It is similar for numerous things in our daily life. For some people, this natural faith can help them in the life of discipleship because they already have a certain faith within themselves and a natural optimism relating to circumstances. Their natural faith and optimism are more developed than in other people. However, that is not faith that comes from God, a faith that God wants to free in every one of His disciples. This is a faith that directly touches the heart and hand of God because it comes into direct contact with Him.

To finish, I would like to highlight that to live out this faith, we need to live in forgiveness. This is so that we rest in His intimacy. Faith equally needs humility, which means that we recognise our dependence of God and that we are aware that without Him we can do nothing… Faith is lived out through prayer. Put simply we can say that that it passes through the heart because it is about touching God’s heart, by means of a heart-to-heart relationship with Him.

Therefore, take a moment to seek God and simply spend time in His presence, deciding to align your heart and your life on Him so that you can live a life of faith that comes from God!

MY DECISION:

➤ What I have understood for my personal life:

➤ What I am deciding to do in my life based on what I have just learned:

➤ What you decide today determines who and what you will be tomorrow!

Adapted from "un disciple en marche" copyright 2018 by Luc Favre, published by Vie Victorieuse. All rights reserved.