BLOVED: UNDERSTANDING HOW TO TRUST GOD AND HOW FAITH WORKS IN YOUR LIFE…!!!! “Bring back to the class a report on everything the book of Romans has to say about faith.” It sounded like an easy assignment, one that wouldn’t take me long. But I was in for a surprise. I soon discovered that the word faith appears numerous times in Romans and that my study would take longer than I’d thought. Defining faith As I read what Romans had to say about faith, I found myself asking, Faith is probably the most important thing in my life, but how do I define it? What is it? I prayed, Lord, how would You define faith? A story came to mind in which Jesus had told someone, “Not even in Israel have I found such great faith.” What was it that Jesus had called “great faith”? I quickly looked up the passage in Luke 7 about the centurion who was willing to believe that Jesus could heal a loyal and trusted servant who was near death. The centurion told Jesus, “Just say the word, and my servant will be healed.”3 Then the centurion used a personal example to illustrate that he understood what it meant to be taken at His word and obeyed. In response to the centurion, Jesus turned to the crowd that was following Him and said, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.”4 Jesus seemed to be saying that “great faith” was simply taking Him at His word. Could this definition be confirmed elsewhere in Scripture? Since Hebrews 11 is often referred to as “faith’s hall of fame,” I turned there. Taking God at His Word After reading and rereading the passage, with all its references to the phrase “by faith,” I began to see that all the people mentioned had one thing in common: No matter whom the writer of Hebrews was talking about, each person had simply taken God at His word and obeyed His command. And they were remembered for their faith. For example, God told Noah to build an ark because He was going to bring a massive flood. Noah took God at His word and built the ark.5 God told Abraham to go out to a place that he would receive as an inheritance. Abraham took God at His word, left his familiar surroundings, and he went.6 God indicated to Sarah, who was long past the age of childbearing, that she would conceive a son. The Scripture states: “She considered Him faithful who had promised.”7 She took God at His word. Regardless of circumstances, despite arguments of logic and reason, and regardless of how he or she felt, each person mentioned in Hebrews 11 believed God and His word and chose to be obedient. I began to wonder, If Luke 7 and Hebrews 11 illustrate great faith, is there a passage that illustrates a lack of faith? Then I remembered an incident from Mark 4 in which Jesus had just finished a full day of preaching and teaching by the shores of Galilee. He instructed the disciples to go to the other side of the sea. Initially, they took Jesus at His word, got into a boat with Him, and headed for the other side. But when a storm arose, they grew fearful and lost confidence that they would actually reach the shore. When Jesus asked them, “How is it that you have no faith?”8 He could just as easily have said, “Why are you not taking Me at My word?” I have always loved the first verse of Mark 5: “And they came to the other side of the sea.” Jesus’ word proved to be true. Through my study of these three passages, I had arrived at a simple, workable definition of faith: Faith is taking God at His word. I wasn’t sure if I would ever have a report on all the book of Romans says about faith, but I knew that I had learned something that would prove to be very significant in my walk with God.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Nov 2014 03:46:16 +0000
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