Christ brings "the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38).
GIFT OF FAITH
Try as you might,Pray as you may;
Vision for your life
Is God's gift of faith.
Faith to believe,
Faith to repent;Faith to receive,
The Gift Father sent.
Try as you may,
Fight as you might;
Our purpose for living,
Is to use the gift right.
Faith to encourage,
Faith to let flourish;
Faith to know best,
The Gift Jesus left.J. E. Pollock
Oct. 10, 200938Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you,
in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38
The Gift of FaithWhat is the nature of faith? Is faith simply a prescribed rational content? Or is faith an irrational leap into the dark? So often our understanding of the nature of faith swings widely between these two extremes; either faith is solely an assent to certain beliefs or it is ultimately devoid of intellectual content and consists exclusively of feelings of total dependence.
The author of Hebrews grounds faith in the "assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen."(1) The early Christians who received this letter were undergoing tremendous suffering and persecution, and the author reminds them that faith is assurance even in the midst of trouble.
The "assurance of things hoped for" is not merely wishful thinking about a yet to be determined future. Rather, it is a description of what true faith already has: the possession in the present of what God has promised for the future. In other words, faith is the response to the trustworthiness of God for what God has already promised and has brought to pass. So faith is confidence in God's saving work done in the past, and hence a hopeful assurance that God will act in the future. To illustrate this point, the author recounts those who by faith believed God in the past in order to encourage the beleaguered recipients of this letter. Just like those who walked in faith before, we too may not see every promise fulfilled. The content of faith is in remembering God's faithfulness in the past, so that we might trust in God's goodness for our present, and in the future that is yet to come.
The writer of Hebrews even chose a particular word to illustrate this point. The Greek word that is used for "assurance" is hypostasis. This is the same word that is used to describe how Christ is the hypostasis, "the very being" of God. In the same way, faith is the "very being" of things hoped for; it is the reality that God's promises will be fulfilled ultimately, and they are being fulfilled already, in the present time! While we often focus on the bad things that are happening around us, faith opens our eyes to see God's work going forward in our world.
Ultimately, the "assurance of things hoped for" is an assurance that comes only in Jesus Christ. For Jesus is the promise fulfilled and the very substance of faith. It is to Jesus Christ and to him alone that the writer of Hebrews directs us as we look for the content of faith. We have faith because we look to Jesus "the pioneer and perfecter of our faith." We look to Jesus, who endured in faith on our behalf, so that we might not grow fainthearted. Assurance doesn't come in well-ordered circumstances or trouble-free living. Nor is assurance found in having a rational answer for every question. Assurance comes in relationship with a trustworthy God who fulfilled promises in the past and who will fulfill them in the future. Faith is grounded on God's work accomplished in Jesus Christ.
Margaret Manning is a member of the speaking and writing team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Seattle, Georgia.
(1) Hebrews 11:1.
THE GIFT
Try as you might,Pray as you may;
New vision for your life,
Is God's gift of true faith.
Faith to believe,
Faith to repent;
Faith to receive,
The Gift Father sent.
Try as you will,Fight as you might;
Our purpose for living,Is to use the gift right.
Faith to encourage,Faith to know best;
Faith to let flourish,The Gift Jesus left.
Pray as you may,
Try as you might;
Without God's Sprit in your day,Darkness always rules the night.
Let God open your eyes,So you see with your heart;As you focus through faith,What you see is pure art.
October 14, 2009
The One from Whom We Ask
Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"
LUKE 17:11-13
The story of the blind man who cried out for mercy comes at the end of Luke's Gospel. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. He knows that the cross is waiting for him there. Only one chapter before, Luke told us the story of the ten lepers. Their cry was almost the same as the blind man's: "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"
Jesus told the ten to go and show themselves to the priests. While they were on the way, they discovered they were healed. Only one of them, a Samaritan, turned and ran back to Jesus, "praising God in a loud voice" (Luke 17:15). In his humility, Jesus told the lone leper exactly what he told the blind man: "Your faith has made you well." It was the faith to ask for something you know you do not deserve, believing in the nature of the One from whom you are asking.PRAY: Have you received blessings from God and neglected to thank him? Take time to thank him now.The writing is taken from the devotional book, "Joy in the Journey Through the Year", by Michael Card.
