"Better to be at home with your Bible and not your theology, than to be at home with your theology and not your Bible."
Several Wednesday nights ago I committed a scriptural error - more biblical fact than theology, but I liked the above quote, it holds me accountable - when I asserted that Abraham invoked the first act of faith in the Bible. That's what can happen when a laywoman helps with a Bible study. The next morning during devotions my crooked biblical knowledge was forged straight by The Book of Hebrews. It was Abel, Enoch, Noah, and then Abraham as I was scheduled to peruse Chapter 11 in my reading plan - The Hall of Fame of Faith. BTW, that was a God wink, not a coincidence.
I was still pondering over faith from the night before.
The word faith gets flung around these days like plastic frisbees at a dog park. "We are people of faith," announce political candidates. What do they mean by that exactly? Is that suppose to help get my vote? Because everyone has faith in something. I have faith that I'll get up and step in cat puke before the day is over. I have faith that when I press the brakes in Big Red, my mud-encrusted pick-up, that he's going to stop me from careening over the embankment and into the creek.
I know, the statement is presuming to have a religious implication, but still, faith in what, in whom? Be specific. Be bold.
Even people who claim that they've thrown the notion of God and religion away and embraced atheism believe in something. According to Charles Taylor's thick book, A Secular Age, they've just traded in one set of beliefs for another. Since they can't empirically prove that God doesn't exist, it's an exercise of faith to believe that he doesn't. Ironically, that subtracts the subtraction theory.
If you say, "I don't know and furthermore, I don't care," that's indifference, and indifference is a set of beliefs that also takes faith.
So we are all people of faith. We all believe in something, whether it's God, nothing, or something in between, whether we give a hoot about the afterlife or not. We are all basing our lives, betting the farm, so to speak, on that belief.
Now that that is established, we can move on, and hopefully clarify this faith thing. Again I ask, "What is your faith in?"
To know the answer to this question is crucial because it isn't faith that is going to save anyone, it is the object of our faith. It is what our feet are standing on, what we reach for in troubling times.
If I slip and fall at the farm as I rock climb up one of these boulder ledges, and that happened to me once, insistently attempting to get my hands and shovel on a small fringe tree I had spotted and smelled, and no, I do not do that anymore for the record, but if I did, and I began to slide down the hillside and saw a branch that looked like it could save my painful descent, I would desperately reach out for it.
If the branch held, what saved me? My faith or the branch?
The branch.
And my Branch is Jesus. He's the object of my Christian faith.
"Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household." ( Acts 16:31 ) ( The Apostle Paul's response to the jailer when he asked what he must do to be saved. )
Jesus Christ saved me from my sin by his substitutionary, atoning work on the cross, taking my place, and by his resurrection from the dead, uniting me back to my Father through the Holy Spirit, gifting me with a beautiful, regenerated heart. ( The entire Book of Romans )
"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." Ephesians 2:8-9
Saving faith in Christ is a gift from God. We can not conger it up on our own, through works or otherwise.
By grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Amen.
Again, what do I expect to receive from this faith? "...the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls." 1 Peter 1:9 ( Added for good measure, in case there is any question. I want to be clear. )
Now how do we put skin and bones on this faith?
Because I understand a definition of what it means as Christians ( Christ followers ) to "live by faith" may still leave us baffled, it's complicated to describe, but plain to see, difficult to define, but easy to illustrate, I'll paint a picture. The Bible is not short on illustrations, so you don't have to rely on my rock climbing mishaps.
Which brings me back to Hebrews 12. We can see at least three aspects of "Christ faith living" from some "people of faith" in these rich texts to help us get the faith picture:
When God called Abram ( this was before his name changed to Abraham ), to move from Haran to the land of Canaan without a GPS or ETA, Abram obeyed. When God called Moses to lead his people out of slavery in Egypt, he moved from Pharaoh's wealth and a life of privilege to poverty and a life of struggle. When the Israelite spies knocked on Rahab's door, she hid them, knowing it could end not only her life, but the lives of her family members.
So faith moves. It's active. It obeys. Faith promptly kicks us out of our soft, cozy nests and into the real world. If faith doesn't move us or change us, it isn't real faith. ( James 2:26 )
Second, as soon as we see God's people on the move and obeying his commands and believing his promises, everything suddenly comes to an abrupt halt. Abraham waits years before Issac is born. Moses waits 40 years watching his father-in-law's flocks as God prepares him to be a leader, and then waits through nine plagues for Pharaoh to let his people go. Rahab journeyed alongside of the Israelites, as they detoured through the wilderness to the Promise Land.
So faith is waiting. Everyone's favorite pastime.
And that flows right into my third point:
Faith has to be tested to be real faith.
"Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you meet trails of various kinds, for you know the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you many be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." James 1:2-4
The greatest human example in the Bible is the binding of Issac. ( BTW, I fact checked myself with biblical commentators. ) God calls Abraham to bind his only son and lay him on a sacrificial altar.
"....but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him." ( Habakkuk 2: 3-4, Hebrews 10:38 ) Wow - that's tough. This faith stuff.
As we see full well from the faithful, Hall of Famers in Hebrews 12.
Which reminds us of a couple of game changers lest we think we got this faith thing under our thumb:
The outcome isn't always what we were expecting.
Faith wanders in the wilderness like Rahab, a former prostitute, a foreigner with contentious people, possibly speculating if they will ever accept you as one of their own, after you've risked your life for them, never knowing that your name will be listed in the lineage of Jesus Christ because you have in fact been chosen to be one of his great -great-grandmothers.
Faith stands at a sister's casket still believing in spite of what is felt and seen, laid bare and unclad, trusting in the goodness and sovereignty of God. Faith continues to pour out seemingly every drop of blood in prayer for the spiritual healing of loved ones because faith remembers that Jesus poured out all of his blood for us, disrobing of his majesty to step inside of human flesh.
Faith is grasping onto cattle ropes and dog leashes and weather-worn shovels with iron-white knuckles and hot tears, while struggling to carry buckets full of regret, coming to the stark realization that life can not be predicted or its destiny controlled like a draft horse harrowing his soil.
Faith kneels and surrenders to the sovereignty of God.
In those weak moments, faith holds its ground, understanding its painful, but holy ground.
Faith is not hesitant to arm wrestle doubt.
Faith will not allow idols. Faith utilizes suffering to sniff them out.
Faith is understanding that we might not live to see the upshot from of all this believing.
But that stark reality doesn't repudiate our induction into his Hall of Fame of Faith.
No way.
We're welcomed in with arms wide open. ( Matthew 25:23 )
And that's what it means to be people of faith - in Christ.
Our Branch.
Lest there be any question. 💜
"They ( the beast and ten kings ) will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings - and with him will be his called, chosen, and faithful followers." Revelation 17:14
