Scripture
For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
~Romans 12:3, NKJV
Quote
I think it’s wise to completely eliminate all talk about how much faith we have, or how we need more faith.
~Eugene L. Peterson
The fact that I use a quote like the one above does not mean that I agree with the quote or even fully understand its meaning. When quotes cause me to ponder, to think, study and do more research: I share them with you for the same reason. Peterson believes that most of us confuse faith with feelings and he may be right. I think of Dr. Bill Brights analogy in the FOUR SPIRITUAL LAWS. He uses the illustration of a TRAIN. The engine is the FACT of God’s word. The coal that feeds the engine is FAITH and the caboose is our FEELINGS. To be a train that pulls hills and crosses plains, we put faith in the word of God and we don’t worry about emotions, they will follow. If you invert this and put FEELINGS at the front of the train, you don’t have train, you have a roller-coaster. Years ago someone came up with the adage, “God said it; I believe it and that settled it.” Someone else came behind them just a few years later and said, “God said it and that settled it whether you believe it or not.” As Dr. Jack Taylor said repeatedly, “We don’t put faith into faith; we put faith in God’s word.” Or we saved by faith? Yes and no. Technically, we are saved by Jesus and His atoning work but for that to be appropriated to us, we must trust Him or exercise faith. When Paul said that “God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.” I believe He was referring to mankind. I believe God has given everyone the ability to believe. The Reforms disagree: they believe that faith is given only to the elect. Personally, I think it takes a lot of faith to be an atheist. It takes faith to get on a highway or in a jet.
This begs the question: do some have more faith than others? My answer would be yes. Is this a God given thing or did they acquire faith by some exercise? I do think faith needs exercise. God is not a bad steward; if you don’t act on the faith you have, I doubt that He will give you more. The bottom line in my opinion is our confidence in the WORD OF GOD. I was reading Psalm 97 yesterday; it is a Psalm quoted in a lot of todays praise and worship. I know Hill-Song uses it and so does Michael W. Smith. It goes like this…
The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad;
let the distant shores rejoice.
Clouds and thick darkness surround him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
Fire goes before him
and consumes his foes on every side.
His lightning lights up the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
and all peoples see his glory.
I have this insatiable thirst to see God’s glory. I want to see HIM move in power. I want to see conviction of sin, yea even weeping and prostration on the altar. I want to see HIS RUACH {Spirit} move in incredible ways. I want to see REVIVAL. Here is my problem: without faith, I can see the devil working but at present I cannot see God working–that is a part from faith. So what do we have? We have Jesus word in John five…“My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” By the way, Paul wrote Ephesians and Philippians from a prison cell. Can you imagine what it was like for his friends who were praying for him daily to be released. They were probably wondering: “LORD, why don’t you get him out of jail?” God is at work, at an infinite level, all the time whether we see it or not. Jesus did not say, “My Father will work if you can see Him working.“ He simply said, “He is always working.” We either believe what Jesus said or we don’t.
Extra
We are supposed to get a little heat today: hopefully enough to dry the top of the ground. I have some garden seeds I would like to get planted. I have no hope for cutting the ditches with the Gravely anytime soon. We have standing water in all ditches.
I hope you have a great day and thanks for reading the blog.